The Magic Games
by LadyDae
Summary: I have no clue that silence can be so deafening. In fact, I think no one believes me, even as my peers make a path for me as I make my way to the front of the crowd, in plain view of everyone in the square. The wind, which had been still until now, blows my platinum hair in my face, forcing me to move it so that I can clearly say, "I volunteer as tribute." CCS/Hunger Games mesh.
1. Chapter 1

So… Hey everybody. I know. It's been a while. Blame it on school. I'm in my senior year of college and this semester has been one hell of semester. The worst one ever in fact, but that's okay. That's really okay. The worst of it is over. I don't even think my senior project class will be as bad as Shakespeare was and next semester should be easier (I'm going to read this note again and roll my eyes and ask myself what I was thinking come March).

Thus, I've decided to reward myself by putting up a new story. I know I haven't finished Love Always, but I will… eventually. Right now, after spending months writing what everyone else wanted me to write, I'm going to write something purely because I want to. Thus the reason this story is being posted. There are no warnings other than excuse any errors or typos. And don't ask me about an update schedule. It's just whenever at this point.

Technically, it is a Hunger Games/Cardcaptor Sakura crossover, but it's not a crossover with the characters. It's mostly Cardcaptor Sakura with the idea of the general world of the Hunger Games behind it… You know what. Just read it and tell me what you think folks. I just need to be reminded that I'm still a good writer even though my Shakespeare teacher has made me think otherwise. So without further ado or explanation, here's my new story…

* * *

**The Magic Games**

**1**

"Yue. Yue."

I pull the covers even tighter over my head as Sakura's soft voice awakens me. I keep my eyes shut tight so that not even the tiniest silver of light can reach my eyes.

"Come on Yue. It's time to get up."

I sigh and reluctantly pull the covers down and stare in the green eyes of my best friend's little sister. She smiles brightly at me, but I don't return her enthusiastic morning greeting. In fact, I glare at her, to which Sakura blushes and mumbles, "Breakfast is ready," before rushing out of the room.

I sit up, regretting staying up so late, but then again, I'm a night owl. I've always awoken when the moon rises and something tells me it was like that before too. When I say before, I mean before the Kinomotos found me, some odd ten years ago having literally walked out the woods and into their back yard where Sakura, little more than four years old was playing. Now that I look back on it, she was an odd child. To see a strange dirty little boy stumbling out the woods and do nothing more than stare in plain curiosity, not at all afraid that I might be a monster or something.

Sakura had always been innocent like that. A little too innocent to live in a world like the one we lived in.

I get dressed and head downstairs to find my adopted family sitting around the table enjoying what meager breakfast we have.

"You," says Toya dryly, "Look like hell my friend."

"Ha, ha," I say dryly, hiding a slight smile as I grab a pot to put some coffee on.

"Were you out late again, Yue?" Sakura asks.

I only hum in response. There's no need to say anything else. Of course I had been. It's very normal for me to be out in the woods late at night, despite the fact that I'd probably get shot on site if I was caught. But out in the woods at night is the only time I feel free, the only time I allow myself not to worry about things like survival and making it day to day. The only time I could release an arrow from my bow because I wanted to, not because I needed to. And if I did manage to shoot something, that was great. As it was, I only utilized my archery skills for survival when the occasion arose for it, which was much too often than I was comfortable with nowadays, especially since Toya and Sakura's father died five years ago.

Even though it wasn't uncommon for children to be orphaned in the district we lived in, it still came as a shock to all of us, even me despite that fact that Fujitaka was not my biological father. He was father enough where it counted. So when he died from some sort of lung sickness, an occupational hazard of the mining most people are forced to do in District Twelve, all of us were understandably worried about what would happen to us. It would not have been such a detrimental blow if not for the fact that Nadeshiko, Toya and Sakura's mother, was also dead. At the time, Sakura was nine, I was thirteen, and Toya, being the oldest of all of us, was only sixteen at the time and, technically, not old enough to look after us.

I don't know how he managed to convince the peacekeepers to let us stay in the house, to not send all us to the community home, but Toya managed it. Honestly, I think it had something to do with the fact that he's best friends with the mayor's son. Either way, while they let us stay in the assigned housing, that meant nothing without food on the table. So while Toya left every day to find work, I did what I was best at.

Archery.

I used to take Sakura with me, having been tasked with keeping an eye on her when Toya was unable to. And it was either take her with me after school so that we could all eat or starve. The choice was simple. She and I would cross through the electric fence that was supposed to keep us trapped inside of the District and she would entertain herself just outside the perimeter of the thick woods while I hunted, as Sakura didn't have the heart to even skin a dead animal.

Who knew my illegal past time would come in handy one day to put food on the table?

As it was, I had to be careful, even more careful than I had been about sneaking out to the woods to practice with the weapon I had been found with. Every time I think about it, I wonder why Toya and his father didn't burn the bow in the first place seeing how it's illegal to possess a weapon.

Either way, we managed. We survived and we would continue to survive… Well, Toya definitely would since he was now past reaping age. Today is my last one, and including this one, Sakura has five more to go. Toya is good at not showing it, but the fact that he can't protect Sakura from this pains him.

"I'm heading out," Toya says.

"You have to work today?" Sakura whines.

Toya smiles, ruffling Sakura's hair, much to her dismay.

"Don't worry. I'll be back in time for the reaping. Besides, Yue's here. He'll take care of you."

Sakura scowls in my direction, to which I roll my eyes. It's no secret that with our conflicting personalities we don't necessarily get along well. When I say that, I mean while she's a talkative and optimistic bundle of sunshine and daisies, I'm… I'm not. One would think that with all the time we spend together though, we would have at least come to some sort of understanding about each other.

We haven't.

Toya leaves and both Sakura and I finish our breakfast in silence. After we're done, we both split the chores for the day with Sakura doing the cleaning in the house, while I tend to the small garden in the back. I have to move my hair out the way as I do so. It really is too long, a hazard really, especially for people like us who have to do manual labor for a living. I'm just lucky I haven't gotten it caught in anything yet. Hopefully there will be some potatoes for the stew that Toya will make for our "feast" in celebration of escaping being reaped again.

There's enough, and I briefly wonder if I have time to go into the woods to do a little more hunting since I know that my chances to go into the woods during the games will be slim to none.

That train of thought is broken when I see Sakura. She's scrubbing the walls clean in the kitchen, in preparation for the arrival of Toya's best friend, Yukito, the mayor's son, for our potluck feast later. The problem is that she isn't doing it with her hands. The brushes are moving up and down the walls on their own, and in Sakura's hands is a thin leather bound book.

"You shouldn't be doing that," I say harshly as take the magic book out her hands.

Books like these are rare to come by, especially since magic was outlawed in the districts after the rebellion ended decades ago. We found it at the Hob, which is the black market of District Twelve. Sakura thought it was a cookbook, but when Sakura read one of the passages out loud and the spoon she had been using to tend to her stew began to stir on its own, we found out otherwise.

Sakura flushes in embarrassment at being caught.

"But Yue," she says quietly. "It's just a little magic. It won't… No one will find out."

"It's risky enough that Toya lets you keep this book to begin with, but to use it, especially today of all days, is too big a risk. Do you want us all to be killed because you couldn't resist doing your little magic tricks?" I ask.

Tears are forming in her eyes, and even though I wasn't trying to hurt her feelings, I won't apologize for being so harsh. My harshness is nothing compared to what will happen to her, to all of us, if she's caught using magic. Only Capitol officials are allowed to use it and even then with restrictions. Any of us who are born with an unfortunate affinity to magic are forbidden to do so. The penalty for being caught using magic is even harsher than the penalty for going into the woods to hunt. It's not just death for the individual caught, but also death for their entire family.

"I'm sorry," she mutters and the scrubbers fall to the floor.

I don't say anything, only go to pick up the scrubbers. In reality, I do feel sorry for her. Sakura's always had a certain affinity for magic, but because of the laws we can't indulge it. She didn't understand when she was little, but as she got older, she reluctantly resigned herself to restraining the undeniable impulse to use her magical talents. It's like having an extra perfectly live and capable limb, but being unable to use it because it's constantly tied behind your back. I should know. I have magic too and I have the same impulses to use it. And while it admittedly makes me a big hypocrite, sometimes, when I'm alone in the woods, I indulge in that impulse.

"Come on," I say finally, patting her on the head, which I know annoys Sakura to no end. "Let's get ready for the reaping."

* * *

Sakura and I walk together to the square where the annual reaping takes place in District Twelve. Toya will follow shortly, to stand with the other families who wait with bated breath, wondering if it will be a love one or someone they know will be sent into the games.

Sakura sees some of her friends and runs to stand in line with them where they register all the children in the district for the reaping.

I go to stand in line by myself. I don't have any friends to wait with like Sakura does. Toya is my only friend because he's the only one who knows how to put up with my mostly anti-social personality. Yukito can too, but I wouldn't consider him a friend. More like Toya's our mutual acquaintance. Yukito can be a little too… eccentric to my tastes. Either way, both of them are now too old to be reaped. After they've pricked my hand and registered me, I go stand with the other eighteen year-olds, all of whom are hoping, just like me, that once again their names will escape the fingertips of Sonomi Daidouji.

I wait in tense silence for the reaping to begin with all the other eighteen-year-old boys. Finally, Yukito's father comes to the podium and just like every year, they explain the history of our country and the history of the games we're forced to play.

According to the stories, when the wars between the muggles broke out, the most powerful magical families came together and brought order to the world for the safety and security of those who survived the bombs, escaped the radiation poisoning, and managed to get a share of what little means there was to fight for in the world. They came together and created Magea from the ashes of the continent once called Asia and then separated the country into thirteen districts, each of whom were forced offer most of their resources to the Capitol, most of whom are descendants of the magical families who _generously_ saved us. But then, the districts rebelled and despite their valiant efforts, they lost with the thirteenth district being obliterated. As punishment for rebelling, each year, each district is required to participate in the Magic Games. It's one of the other exceptions to the general outlaw of magic in Magea.

Each district offers two tributes, a boy and girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen, to fight to the death. The last tribute standing wins. It's not that simple though. The capitol makes a big event out it. They show off the tributes to the Capitol, and put the tributes through "training." This is the part where the exception to magic comes in. While the Capitol could just throw the tributes into the games with weapons and watch them kill each other, magic is a novelty, even to the people of the Capitol who live closest to it. Magic makes the games a lot more interesting, even, shamefully so, to the districts. Thus, the tributes get a crash course in the use of magic during training week; that is if they have even the slightest ability to use it.

This year will be the seventy-fourth Magic Games.

The Capitol calls it a mercy, but I know and so do many others, that such a notion is a lie. These games are a punishment, a way to throw in the districts' faces that we'll always be at the mercy of the Capitol and there's not a thing we can do to stop it.

I ignore the speech, having memorized the entire thing after attending it for the last ten years. I even ignore as the mayor reads off the list of victors from our district. We've only had two and only one is alive. His name is Clow Reed, and rumor has it he's very distantly related to one of the powerful magical families that founded the capitol, or at the very least, he shares their last name. It's not particularly uncommon. Not like it matters though. The Reeds, the magical family, died out decades before the rebellion. Anyway, he's a strange man and something of a hermit, although sometimes I see him town. And when I do see him, I feel a strange sense of kinship with him, although I have no clue why.

Then, Sonomi Daidouji comes front and center and greets us with her trademark, "Happy Magic Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!" As usually, she's dressed in what must be the latest fashion of the Capitol and her hair is dyed an obnoxious pink this year.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes at her eccentrics. Spending even two minutes with that woman would probably irritate the hell out of me.

"Ladies first," she says and walks over to the glass ball filled with all the girl's names in our district. She pulls out a slip and walks back to the microphone before reading it.

It takes a while for my brain to register what I heard and when it does, I'm convinced I've misheard until I see her, brown hair and emerald green eyes, walking up onto the stage.

_Sakura Kinomoto!_

Normally, people have a hard time reading my expressions, but I'm pretty sure that today I'm wearing my shock. She had the best chance out of all of us. Sakura's fourteen, which means that she only has three slips of paper with her name written on it. Three slips out of thousands of names. Three slips compared to my twenty-eight; compared to other children's dozens.

Admittedly, whenever I thought in the past about what might happen if Sakura was reaped, my thoughts went to my best friend, Toya, who would be devastated after losing both his parents to lose his little sister to the Magic Games. But what I didn't think about was how it would affect me, to see her on that stage, putting up a brave face while I knew that inside she was probably scared to death.

My thoughts immediately go back to a decade ago, when I stumble out of the woods on a cloudy day while Sakura is playing in the garden. Her brother thought I was trying to hurt her and even at eleven years old, there's no doubt in my mind that he would have killed me if not for Sakura, barely all of four years old, running to stand in his way, with the same brave face she was using now that she was reaped.

"What's your name?" she asked me in a timid tone after I had been dragged to sit at the table with a cup of tea placed in front of me.

"Yue." I muttered. That was all I remembered.

"I'm Sakura, and I want to be your friend."

She has been trying to make good on that promise ever since; annoyingly so much to my dismay.

I'm prevented from thinking about it any further when I hear a commotion behind me. Toya has somehow made his way through the crowd and is making his way towards the stage. He's not saying a word, but it's Yukito behind him, trying in vain to stop him that is causing the racket. Somehow, I'm unsurprised by his actions. Toya would fight the entire world if he had to in order to protect Sakura, so a few peacekeepers with guns are not going to stop him.

But I can.

So regardless of the fact that I'm technically supposed to stay in my place, I make my way through the gathering of eligible boy tributes and walk directly into his path.

"You can't do this," I say calmly.

"Get out of the way Yue," he says trying to move past me.

"Toya," I say. "She'll be fine. She'll…"

But even as I say this, I know it's a lie. There's no way Sakura could survive in the arena on her own. There's no way I can assure her safety. But how else am I supposed to convince Toya of that?

While Yukito and I somehow manage to get Toya to stand back with the rest of the district not eligible for reaping, I try to figure out to find a way to quell the sudden overwhelming urge to protect Sakura for, if nothing else, Toya's sake. I owe it to him. Actually, I owe it to both Toya and Sakura; Sakura more than Toya maybe.

But how?

While I've been focusing on trying to stop Toya from making a bad situation worse while also reassuring him that Sakura will be okay, Sonomi has moved on, already passed the point of asking for volunteers. In the more fortunate districts, being reaped is an honor and they train children up for the games. Technically, it's illegal, not just because the games are supposed to be fair, but because they toe the line of using magic and not using it. All they learn is magical theory, but even being caught with a book on magic is enough to be charged with using it. In those districts, the career districts, the trained children happily risk their lives for the chance at victory in the Magic Games. In District Twelve, a volunteer for the games is unheard of, and unsurprisingly, no one has taken Sakura's place.

I mostly tune out the rest of the happenings as Sonomi moves on to the boys.

I don't go back to my spot for two reasons. One is that I don't trust Toya not to try to get to Sakura again. The other is that I'm still contemplating how I can possibly make this right. I can't take Sakura's place, and there's no way I can protect her during the games unless…

I become unnaturally stiff, even for me, a person who can sit still for almost unnatural periods of time. I don't think what I'm contemplating doing has ever happened in the history of the games, but there's no rule that says I can't do it. There's no rule that says I'm not allowed.

I make sure to focus on the stage as Sonomi reads a name from the slip, someone who I don't know and don't really care about, and I make sure to avoid looking around less I make eye contact with Toya or Yukito, and they someone realize my intentions and try to stop me, but somehow, Yukito already has.

"Yue…" Yukito begins but trails off.

"What?" Toya asks looking at Yukito and then at me.

Our eyes meet, and instantly, Toya knows what I'm thinking and shakes his head.

"She'll be fine. I'll make sure she comes back," I say and then begin to make my way to the front of the crowd.

Because I don't want anyone to stop me, I haven't even reached the front of the crowd and Sonomi has barely gotten her question about volunteers out when I say clearly, just loud enough for Sonomi to hear, "I volunteer."

Until this moment, I have no clue that silence can be so deafening. In fact, I think no one believes me, even as my peers make a path for me as I make my way to the front of the crowd, in plain view of everyone in the square. The wind, which had been still until now, blows my platinum hair in my face, forcing me to move it so that I can clearly say, "I volunteer as tribute."

* * *

**AN: **So how was it? Have I lost my touch?

Anyway, this is all very experimental for me. I don't really do first person, let alone first person present, let alone from the point of view of a character that's so hard to nail. And I haven't done a crossover since… well never. So I'm going to unwind by watching American Horror Story.

Hope you enjoyed. R&R.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

Shocked silence permeates the square at my declaration. Even Sonomi looks shocked, but her shocked expression quickly turns into one of excitement in which she guides the reaped tribute down the stairs and off the stages while ushering me to join her.

It takes all my will power to keep myself from saying something particularly harsh to her, and I'm not sure that's enough. So I press my lips together tightly and make my way to the stage and up the steps.

I'm barely on stage when Sonomi grabs me by the arm and pulls me over to the microphone. I pull my arm out her grasp before she can let go, but she does not seem bothered by this.

She adjusts the microphone so that both of us can talk into it.

"And what's your name, sweetheart?"

I cannot even bring myself to cringe at the endearment like I might have if this were a normal situation. Instead I simply say, "Yue."

"Yue what, dear?" Sonomi encourages.

"Yue Kinomoto."

Sonomi gasps in surprise and turns to look at Sakura and then back at me.

"Well I bet my buttons this girl is your sister?"

"Not biologically," I say. "They… I was orphaned a long time ago. They took me in."

Sonomi grins. "Couldn't let her have all the glory, could you?"

I press my lips together again and decide not to reply, because surely I will not be nice if I do. Sonomi does not seem bothered by this either though, and moves out the way while ushering Sakura and I to come closer together to shake hands.

Usually, if she's put in a situation where she might feel the need to touch me, Sakura will shyly bat her eyes and then look at her feet. But this time, it seems her natural curiosity in addition to her shock overpower her normal timidity around me. She looks me dead in the eye as she reaches out to shake my hand. Her eyes reveal that she feels conflicted, but most of all she's confused and scared. I take her hand, but I also do something else since I know that we won't get a chance to talk to her so I can explain this any time soon.

I put my hand on the back of her head and pull her to me so that it looks like I might kiss her on the forehead. Only those who know me will know that I'm not one for these types of affections, but what everyone else thinks does not matter. What matters is that the action brings her close enough to me so that she can hear me whisper, without prying ears, "Don't worry. I'll protect you."

* * *

Honestly, I don't expect any visitors to come see me. I wouldn't blame Toya for spending the short time that tributes get for their loved ones to say good-bye with Sakura. Thus, I am surprised when after a few minutes of sitting, Toya comes into the room.

"You're an idiot you know that?" he asks.

I smile a little, not offended.

"You would have done it if you could have," I say. "So I did it for you. I owe you all that much for not killing me when you found me."

"Yeah," Toya says, turning his gaze to the ground.

"Don't worry about me. Don't worry about Sakura either. I'll make sure she comes back. I'll die before I let them touch her," I say.

I don't take my word lightly. If I don't mean it or I am not certain, I don't say it. So when I say this to Toya, though I know he will worry anyway, I know that part of him is relieved because he is certain I'll do everything in my power to keep my word.

"Thanks," he says.

"Don't mention it."

Toya stands there awkwardly for a moment and then, suddenly, he hugs me.

For a moment, I stand there stiffly, but then I return the embrace. This will be the last time I see him anyway.

If it were up to him, I'm not sure Toya would let me go, but the peacekeepers don't give him that choice. They pull him away, roughly telling him that his time is up, and begin to drag him out the room.

"Try not to kill yourself with worry," I offer as he's dragged away.

"I won't," Toya says. "And remember, Yue—"

The door closes before he can finish. He's probably off to see Sakura now, to assure her that I'll watch over her in the games.

Yukito comes in next. This too surprises me.

Though we admittedly look a little alike in the face and even in body build, both of us are like night and day in personality. We don't usually talk to each other unless it's necessary and I don't consider now one of those necessary times.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, not meaning to be harsh, but I can't really grasp why he's here to see me.

Yukito rolls his eyes.

"I expected nothing less from you Yue," he says as he holds something out to me.

It's a purple and white earring, the ones I've seen people in the capitol wear at the top of their ear. In our district, earrings, and jewelry in general, are a luxury we can't afford to be bothered with.

"What's this?"

"You're allowed a token from your district. Take this."

I take it from him, and look at it closely. There's something inscribed on it, but I can't be bothered to figure out what.

"I don't wear jewelry," I say handing it back to him.

"For the games you do," Yukito insists. "Here."

With that, he clips the earring onto the side of my left ear.

"There," he says. "Good luck."

And with that, he leaves the room. I'll never understand that boy.

I don't get any more visitors after that. Soon, the peacekeepers come to get me. When I get to the lobby, Sakura is already there and it's obvious she's been crying. But right now, she's putting on a brave face as the peacekeepers lead us and Sonomi out of the Justice building and into the cars waiting for us outside.

I've never been in a car before, and I quickly decide I don't like it. It's constricting. If Sakura were not so afraid right now though, I think she would enjoy herself. As it is, she simply stares ahead blankly, occasionally shooting glances in my direction.

The ride to the train station is thankfully quick, but I almost would have preferred to be back in the car than facing the swarm of reporters. Today has been a bad enough day as it is and I'm in no mood to try to even look like I'm pleased to see them or even indifferent. I fix my gaze into a cool glare, but somehow that doesn't seem to deter them. However, I am aware that Sakura is walking incredibly close to me and avoiding looking at the cameras.

She does the same thing even as we stand in the doorway so that the reporters can get good pictures of us, even going as far as to hide her much smaller body behind my larger one which gives her the courage to look up at the cameras periodically. Somehow, I can tell they like her.

When we board the train and the doors close, Sakura lets out a sigh of relief and the train immediately begins to move. I can barely feel its movement. Sakura goes to the closest window and gasp in amazement as the world moves past her in a blur. She, like everyone else in our district, has never traveled anywhere outside the district as travel between districts is forbidden. I am also sure that even though she's scared to death, Sakura is probably excited to see the Capitol.

The Capitol exists on the remains of an Island called Japan, one of the few Islands not completely swallowed under water during the days before Magea was created. It's surrounded by water and the only way to get to it from the districts is by flying, or through the underwater tunnels that the trains take back and forth.

Sonomi leads us both to our rooms and though Sakura looks reluctant to leave my side, I nod for her to go ahead while I go into my own room, faintly hearing Sonomi mention that we should be ready for dinner in an hour.

I complained in the car about there not being enough space, but now there seems to be too much of it. I've never seen this much space in one place before except outside. I search the drawers for something to wear. There's a lot to choose from and most of it too fancy for me to feel comfortable in, so I grab a pair of slacks and a silky button shirt before going into the bathroom. It takes me a while to figure out how to use the showers as one: we don't have showers in our district and two: I didn't know they were so complicated.

I eventually figure it out though and put on the clothes I laid out before Sonomi comes to get me for dinner.

Sakura is already there, and she looks a little more comfortable in the bright yellow sundress and stacked sandal shoes she picked out. She's looking around the room, taking everything in until she spots me with Sonomi.

I sit next to her and fold my arms, while Sonomi sits on the other side of us.

"Um… Where's Mr. Reed?" Sakura asked.

Sonomi sighed. "He'll join us shortly I suppose. A peculiar man that one."

Then dinner arrives. Sakura immediately dives into the first course, some kind of thick soup that I've never seen before. But I don't and after a while, Sakura notices.

"Aren't you going to eat something?" she asked.

"Maybe," I say but old habits die hard and this particular habit won't let me indulge yet.

Food was scarce before Toya and Sakura's father died, but even more so afterwards, especially during the winter when there wasn't much for me to shoot if I needed to do so. I don't know why, and perhaps it has something to with my unknown origins, but I can go much longer without food and water than most people can before I start showing signs of hunger or dehydration. And when I do eat, I live off of much less sustenance. Thus, I'm accustomed to waiting for everyone else at the table to eat first and if there's anything left over, I take it. If not, I drink coffee and move on.

So even though there's probably enough food on this train to feed our entire district, I cannot bring myself to partake of any of it until I know Sakura's had her fill. It is why I'm here anyway, to protect her.

"There's enough for everyone," Sakura says. "You don't have to hold back for anyone's sake."

"Maybe later," I say.

Unfortunately, Sakura isn't taking this for an answer. I've come face to face with her stubbornness before. Though most of the time she is intimidated by me, there are times where she is bold enough to stand up to me and this is one of those times. She grabs a piece of bread, spreads it with butter, and holds it out to me, but Sakura forgets, I am as stubborn as she is.

I want to be difficult with her. I don't want to let her win. But she's obviously not going to eat if I don't, and more than me, she needs all the food she can get to help us last the next few weeks.

"Fine," I say taking the bread from her. "But only because we need all the energy we can get before the games."

And just as fast as her irritation with me had come, it goes away, replaced with pleasure as I begin to nibble on the bread and start on the soup. It's always so easy to please her.

I had forgotten Sonomi is with us until she loudly and excitedly exclaims, "You two are just too adorable! The people in the Capitol are simply going to love you!"

I glare at her, while Sakura blushes, but neither of us say anything.

After Sakura is done, and I've eaten enough to satisfy her, we go to another compartment to watch the recaps.

If we were at home, I wouldn't pay any attention. But now, these people are our competition. Twenty-two people in the way on me making sure Sakura is the one that gets to go home. I watch all of them, but only a few stand out to me.

From District One, there's a tall boy with blonde hair to his waist and a tall girl with spiky black hair. There's something sly and sinister about them and I make a mental note to keep my eye on them. From District Two there's Spinel and Ruby and both of them seem to exude the same affinity for magic that Sakura and I do, even through the television screen. They may be trouble. Then there's one from District Seven, and the only reason I remember him is that when they said his name, it was weird and hard for Sakura to roll off her tongue. Thus she dubbed him "Kero." He was stocky and kind of reminded me of a bear or a lion and seemed to have an incredibly cocky air about him. I know instantly that he would be the bane of my existence if I had to be in a room with him for more than five minutes. And then there's a girl named Chiharu, who's probably harmless, but I can absolutely see Sakura trying to make friends with. Hopefully someone kills her so I don't have to.

Our reaping is last and they not only show Sakura being reaped, her brother nearly marching onto the stage to come get her before I stop him and then me volunteering to protect her, but they also show me pulling her to me. I know the truth. It wasn't an embrace or anything remotely affectionate, but from the perspective of the observer, that's exactly what it looks like and it doesn't fail to get a reaction out of Sonomi who says, "That! That right there! You have to keep that up. We can use that to get you sponsors. They'll love it!"

"Strategizing without me?"

* * *

**AN:** Hope you enjoyed. R&R.


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

Sakura jumps, but I just wait for Clow Reed to come sit down on the other empty couch.

He had been standing behind us for a while. I don't know how I know that, but I've always had the uncanny ability to tell when Clow is around or nearby. I think it has something to do with the magical aura he exudes.

"I apologize for making you wait, but I was preoccupied."

I can't help feeling irritated with him. I'm always irritated with Clow and this is our first official meeting. I guess it has something to do with the odd connection I feel like I have with him, yet can't place a reason for.

"Preoccupied," I say. "With what? Your job's to keep us alive."

Clow simple smiles. "I suppose that's true. We have a lot to talk about."

That's obvious.

"Let's start with you telling me about yourselves."

Sakura starts to, but I don't let her.

"What's that got to do with helping us survive the games?" I ask.

Clow looks at me, his smile faltering a little to expose an expression that's grim. But then, his smile reappears and he says.

"Because even though you're not in the arena, the Magic Games have begun Yue. Nothing you do now, will do in the future, or have done in the past is private anymore. So I'd like to know as much as I can so there are no surprises."

I glare at him still. Even though this is a life or death situation, I can't bring myself to trust a man who I only know from his rare appearances in town.

"Well there's no need to worry. No surprises from us," I say.

"Yue's not my real brother, and I can use magic," Sakura offered.

I glance at Sakura out the corner of my eye, but she's pointedly avoiding looking in my direction.

Clow hums and leans back in his chair. "This is interesting."

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out we're not really related," I say. "We look nothing alike. We just live in the same house."

"No," Clow says. "I mean the magic."

As much as I dislike Clow, I understand what he means. Magic is a rare trait in our district. It's rare everywhere, but rarer still in District Twelve. It's the reason we've had so few winners in the Magic Games. While it is certainly not unheard of for a person with no magic to win the Games, it is certainly not common. A girl without magic won last year, just a year after her cousin, who had magic, did.

"Show me something."

Sakura looks around, eyes landing on the ice water sitting on a table near the table. For a moment she just stares at it, and I assume she's trying to come up with something to do with it until frost begins to climb the outside of the glass pitcher.

When it stops, Clow walks to the pitcher. He picks up a napkin to protect his hand against the cold, grabs the pitcher, and then turns it upside down.

The ice is frozen solid.

"Impressive," he says as he puts the pitcher back upright.

Sakura blushes.

"Not really," she says. "It was already cold."

"No. That's good. You understand that it's easier to use magic to speed up or enhance natural processes rather than starting from scratch. That will definitely help you later on," Clow says. "Anything else?"

"Yue," Sakura says and for a moment, I think she wants to direct her next statement towards me, but she doesn't. Instead she continues, "Yue has magic too."

I stiffen in surprise, my jaw tightening automatically as I wonder how in the world Sakura could have figured that out. It was never something I disclosed to anyone, not even Toya. After a while, I give up trying to figure it out on my own and decide to ask.

"How did you know that?"

Sakura blushes and sinks down into her seat. Of all the reactions I expect from her, embarrassment is not one of them.

"Your magic… It's… It's comforting to me," she says and I give her pointed look. There's obviously something else that she wants to say.

Sakura sighs and continues, "It makes me want to be around you."

She's pointedly avoiding looking at me right now, but I'm not concerned. She still hasn't really answered my question, but I don't feel like trying to urge her to say what's on her mind in front of Clow.

"I take it you didn't plan on telling me that?" Clow asks me.

I sigh. "No. I didn't," I admit and then ask, "Do you think it will help us?"

"Yes," Clow says. "But only if you do everything I say and no more trying to keep secrets."

I sigh, hoping Clow takes it as a sign of my cooperation, because I'm not saying anything else.

Sakura simply nods in agreement.

Clow stands.

"Good then. We'll be at the capitol soon. When we get there, they'll take you right to getting ready for the opening ceremonies of the Magic Games. Don't be difficult with your stylists and do exactly as they say."

I have a hard time accepting that instruction. The stylists for District Twelve are notorious for their bad tastes in fashion. They never do anything to make us stand out and distinguish ourselves from the other districts, and I know I'll have one hell of a time keeping quiet if I find that I don't like their ideas.

I start to say this to Clow but, seeming to understand that I'm not exactly the most cooperative person on the planet, he says, "I mean it Yue."

Before I can say anything else to that, he says, "But don't worry about that right now. Why don't you go get some rest before we get to the Capitol?"

He doesn't wait around to see if we'll do as he says and disappears into the compartment he came out of.

Sonomi agrees that we should get some rest and guides us back to our rooms. But there's too much on my mind for me to go to sleep, so I simply lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling. I'm usually up most of the night anyway. Sakura comes in a few hours later.

I know she knows I'm awake, but she doesn't say anything at first, so I continue to stare at the ceiling.

Then she approaches the side of the bed, turns on the side lamp, and hesitantly sits next to me.

"You didn't have to do what you did, you know?" she says quietly.

I roll my eyes. "I'm not going to pretend I like Clow just because he's our mentor," I say.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Sakura mutters. "I meant at the reaping."

I look at her then, noticing that she's staring at me in that same intense way she did when we had to shake hands at the reaping.

"You didn't have to volunteer to protect me."

"I know that."

"Then why did you?"

I roll over to my side so that my back is turned to her. I don't want to answer her question, because even though I say I did this because I owe Sakura and her brother, there is something else present that I can't put my hands on. I'll never admit this aloud, but I have a very strong affinity for Sakura. I find it strange. It might just be her magic, though I had not thought about that until she mentioned that my magic attracts her to me. Whatever the reason, I don't plan on disclosing it to her.

"Don't worry about why I did it. All you should be concerned about is surviving the games."

Sakura is silent for a while and then she mutters something. I turn to her, hoping she notices my irritation and just goes back to her own room.

"What was that?"

"I said, I don't want you to die for me," Sakura says louder.

On some level, her sentiment touches me and takes me back to when I first met her, when she ran between me and her brother to protect me, even though if Toya had wanted to, he could have easily pushed her out the way and done what he wanted.

However, I can't afford to let that sentimentality affect me. So I say, "Well it can't be helped. If you want to go home, you have to be the last one standing. There can't be two winners."

I turn away from her, hoping she'll leave, but she doesn't. Instead I feel her fingers near my ear.

"What's this?"

She's touching the earring Yukito gave me. I had honestly forgotten I was wearing it.

I shrug. "Something Yukito gave me. My district token."

"That's odd."

I turn to look at her again. Now she looks curious, and I'm right. She is so curious that she removes the earring to inspect it.

"It has the seal of the moon guardian on it," she points out.

Now I'm curious. So I sit up and seeing that I'm interested, Sakura holds out the earring so that I can see what she's looking at. She points to a symbol on the outside of the jewel right at the top. The crescent moon with a star tucked inside it.

According to some old legend, there was a powerful sorcerer who had a powerful sorceress for a daughter. He gave her everything in his power that he could give her, but she still remained unhappy because she was ostracized by the people in the nearby village because of her powers. So to please his daughter, the father used the last of his magic to create two companions for her. One companion was created from a ray of sunlight and the second was created from a ray of moonlight. Both are her guardians. The sun guardian's sun magic blinds other magic users to the sorceresses star magic and the moon guardian is her silent protector, always cloaked in an air of mystery. This is where the legend gets fuzzy. Some stories say that the moon guardian is actually her brother. Some say that eventually the moon guardian and the star sorceress become lovers. And others simply say that he's simply her confident. Regardless, all the stories agree that when the two guardians and their mistress die, they always managed to find each other again every thousand or few thousand years when they are reborn.

This tale is probably the only thing District Twelve is known for outside of our industry. But the Capitol officials hate it, thus the story is rarely told in public even though it's not forbidden. That's something I don't understand. It's just a story. It should be harmless, yet there is something about it that makes the people in charge of the Capitol see the need to hate it.

"I probably shouldn't wear it then," I say.

"No!" Sakura says quickly.

I look at her expectantly, to which she blushes.

"It's just… They've already sentenced us to death. What can they do about a piece of jewelry? They probably won't even notice," she says as she put the earring back on my ear and then begins to fiddle with something that's on a chain around her neck. Then she adds, "Besides, I think it's fitting."

I start to ask her what she's playing with, but then it is suddenly dark outside of the train and I hear Sonomi with her loud heels approaching us.

She comes into the room and says, "We're almost there. Make sure you're ready."

Sakura jumps off the bed and follows Sonomi out the room to go to her own room and get ready. Since I didn't go to sleep and never changed out of my clothes the night before, I simply wait until I hear Sakura slide her door open.

I make my way out the room and go to stand next to Sakura, who's eagerly waiting by the window.

"Smile and wave for the cameras." Clow says from behind us as we come out of the tunnel.

I don't for two reasons. One is that I really don't like taking orders from Clow. The other is that this whole display disgusts me; us being presented to the excited people of the capitol, who can't comprehend the horrors we have to face, all of it. I can barely stand it. So I do what I always do, I act indifferent to it all and truly, I am.

Sakura looks at me and huffs before turning to the window and to smile and wave.

"You look like an idiot doing that," I say in annoyance with her compliance.

"Well someone has to endear the capitolites," she says. "And you have the charm of a rattlesnake."

I don't bother to glare at her because she's not paying attention to me, still concerned with waving and making an impression with the people outside. But she's right. I start to raise my hand, but Clow shakes his head.

"Let Yue be himself for right now, Sakura. He'll have plenty of time to impress the Capitol," Clow says.

He's planning something, but I don't feel like picking a fight with Clow right now and I don't have the time to because we've pulled into the station.

* * *

**AN: **So at the risk of sounding like some of those review junkies I know who won't post a chapter unless they get enough reviews, just a note that reviews make me want to update faster and not just when I get around to it. So if you're reading this story (and I've been on this site long enough to know about how many hits and visitors translate into readers), please leave a review.

Hope you enjoyed. R&R.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: **I don't like putting author's notes here, but I need to say this. In this chapter, there's a part why Yue is talking to his stylist and I take like a paragraph of the _Hunger Games_ and tweak it to Yue's point of view to fit the rest of the story. It's just a paragraph, but I felt like I needed to mention this so no plagiarism Nazis decide to call me out on it. In fact, I'll do this periodically through the story, but mostly when I don't know how to describe a certain setting. Everything else is mine though.

* * *

**4**

I didn't know it was possible to be this clean. I've always been paler than most of the people in my district, but now that my prep team has scrubbed every piece of dirt off me, I find out just how pale I really am and my platinum hair does nothing to make it better.

They're doing a last minute inspection of my body, but I'm not uncomfortable about it. They look at me like they're scientist or something and I'm the subject. Not to mention because of all their capitol enhancements and body mutations, they look more like colorful birds.

"Good," one, I think her name is Mai, says seeming pleased. "You almost look like a human being now."

I resist the urge to scoff. I don't know if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult. Either way, I don't take it to heart. How can in when it came from people as dressed and made up as they are?

Instead I say, "Thanks." If I say more, I can't promise it will be nice.

"No problem, sweetheart," Nana says. "Now we'll go get Tomoyo."

I assume Tomoyo is the name of my stylist, but my prep team doesn't stick around long enough for me to ask, and I am eager to have them gone anyway. They were worse than being around Sonomi.

"Hello!" the exuberant voice of a woman says before she even enters the room and I mentally prepare myself for her to come in looking as made up and disfigured as my prep team.

I'm a little surprised when she's not.

She looks normal. She wears her long black hair loose and except for some lip gloss and eye-liner, she does not wear any heavy makeup. She has this classy, regal air about her, even in her exuberance. And her eyes sparkle with excitement and passion for her job. But even so, I think I might be able to stand her… emphasis on might.

"Oh," she says as she looks at me and for the first time since I've been here, I feel embarrassed, especially since she doesn't look much older than me. Actually, she doesn't look older than me at all. I think I might be older than her.

"The other stylists thought I was crazy for wanting to be the stylist for District Twelve, but they'll see who's crazy once they see you in the opening ceremony tonight. You, Yue, are a fine specimen of a man."

I am certainly embarrassed now and to my dismay, Tomoyo notices.

She laughs. "Relax. That statement was a purely professional observation."

She hands me the robe hanging on the wall and as I put it on, she says, "Your hair is so long."

I scowl. "I know. I've been meaning to cut it but we don't get this kind of time in District Twelve to focus on our looks."

"I'm glad you don't," Tomoyo says running her hands through it. "I like it. It gives me a lot to work with.

She grabs some of the long strands from the top of my hairline and pulls them right over my forehead.

"Of course, you need bangs. If it weren't for the fact that you have such a cold exterior, you'd look like a girl," Tomoyo says and then moves my hair back out my face. "Nice earring by the way. Now come on. Let's eat and we'll talk about our strategy for tonight."

I follow her through a door into a sitting room. Two red couches face off over a low table. Three walls are blank, the fourth is entirely glass, providing a window to the city. It's gotten cloudy, but I can still tell that it is around noon. Tomoyo invites me to sit on one of the couches and then sits across from me. She then presses a button on the side of the table. The top splits and from below rises a second tabletop with our lunch. Chicken and chunks of oranges cooked in a creamy sauce laid on a bed of pearly white grain, tiny green peas and onions, rolls shaped like flowers, and for dessert, a pudding the color of honey.

I sigh as I look at it. This much food would last us a week back home, but I try not to dwell on that thought.

Tomoyo, noticing me sigh, says, "You must think we're despicable."

I do and I don't need to voice that for Tomoyo to know.

"Whatever," she says smiling at me. "So let's talk about your outfit for the opening ceremony."

To be honest, I could care less as long as it looks like some type of effort was put into it, but I can't even voice that because of my agreement with Clow.

"Me and my partner, Demetrius, want to do something a little more original than what's been done in the last few years. The tradition is to dress the tribute to reflect the flavor of the district."

Most people take this to mean that it has to reflect the industry of our district, the industry that helps keep the capitol running and comfortable. Ours is coal, but for the life of me I can't understand with all the Capitol's technology and magic why they would still need our district to supply this need. I can only think of one reason, and I'm probably right. It's to punish us. It's to make us so fearful of what they'll do to us if we don't meet their quota that we won't bother thinking about anything else. It's to make sure that we suffer because all our resources are going to help them, regardless of whether they need it or not, while we're left barely scraping by. We'll be so focuses on surviving from day to day that the thought of rebellion won't enter our minds. Almost no one escapes the fate of going down into the mines. Toya's dad didn't and in a way, it was more tragic for him than for anyone else. He was really an intellectual, a scholar, in a world that didn't appreciate his intellectual brilliance because it wasn't needed in a place like District Twelve. Somehow, Toya escaped the fate of going into the mines. I hadn't given much thought into how I would and now I won't need to.

"We're going to do something different. We're not going to reflect the industry this year, but something else that reflects the flavor of the district," Tomoyo says.

Whatever her idea is intrigues me. She's not planning to represent our industry, so what is she planning to do?

"I did some research about your district and then I talked to your mentor about it and he thinks the idea is fitting for you and Sakura considering what you did at the reaping."

Tomoyo leans back in her seat and grins as she looks me up and down before asking, "What do you know about the legend of the star sorceress and her guardians?"

* * *

It doesn't escape me just how coincidental it is that Yukito gave me an earring with the seal of the moon guardian on it just hours before I arrived at the Capitol, where Tomoyo declares that Sakura's and my costumes will be a play on the famous legend that originated in our district.

My costume is purple and white and Tomoyo says it goes with the color of my eyes, but I hardly care about that. The costume is complete with its own armor, making me look broader in the shoulders than I really am. It's heavy too, but I decide not to complain about it. As promised, Tomoyo has my hair cut into bangs in the front to make me look more masculine, not that the armor doesn't accomplish that on its own, and she's gathered the bottom half of my hair into a braid in the back, tied off with purple ribbons. She makes sure that my earring is visible and then sends me on my way to where our chariot is waiting. Sakura isn't there yet.

"Now," Tomoyo says, doing last minute touches on my new bangs, "Let Sakura do all the charming and waving and smiling. I just want you to stand there and look imposing. Protective, like a guardian."

In other words, act how I naturally act. But that's going to be hard to do when the whole country is watching me.

A gasp catches my attention, and I turn to see Sakura, who is arriving with Demetrius. Her outfit isn't as elaborate as mine and I think that's the point, but it definitely fits her. I'm no stylist, so I can only guess that the outfit is made of three parts; a long sleeved off-shoulder jumpsuit that barely covers a quarter of her thighs, a long flowing cloak that will probably billow behind her during our chariot ride and has a yellow ribbon tied in a bow to keep it clasped at the top, and a tam atop her head, the ends and front of her hair coming out from under it in big waves. Her outfit is colored a very feminine pink and the tight fit draws my attention for the first time to the womanly curves she's started to grow into while at the same time keeping intact the natural air of innocence that Sakura exudes. It fascinates me, even though I try my best not to be fascinated by it. But I cannot help it. When did Sakura stop looking like the little girl who saved me so long ago? When did she start to grow up?

"You look gorgeous!" Tomoyo says going to get a better look at Sakura and obscuring my view of her. I sigh in relief.

"Okay. Up on the chariot," Tomoyo says.

When Sakura and I are on the chariot, each standing on our own side, Tomoyo immediately rearranges us.

"No! You have to stand like this to get the right effect."

Thus Sakura ends up standing slightly in front of me, while I hover over her right shoulder.

"Remember Sakura," Tomoyo said. "Wave and smile for the cameras."

Sakura nods and right before Tomoyo leaves, she whispers in my ear, "There's another part to your costume. It'll kick in during the ride. When everyone starts gasping, try to catch yourself in the cameras."

Then she runs off with an excited grin.

As we wait for each district before us to ride out ahead of us, Sakura speaks.

"Yue," I look down at Sakura and she blushes, turning away from my gaze. I guess Tomoyo was right about looking more intimidating if Sakura is back to being timid around me again.

"What?"

"You look… You look nice," she mutters.

"Thanks," I say. I also want to point out that she looks nice too, but I can't bring myself to do so. She probably doesn't expect me to compliment her anyway.

Then she says, "Are you… okay with this?"

I'm not sure what she means until I realize that she's practically leaning against me. I hadn't even noticed Tomoyo put us so close together. Truthfully, it doesn't bother me, even though it should. I don't normally like human contact.

"Just make sure not to step on my feet," I say, making Sakura aware that while she has on shoes, my costume doesn't come with shoes.

"Right," she says bashfully as our chariot starts to move and comes into the view of the people of the capitol.

I was right in my assumption that Sakura's cloak ends up billowing behind us. As it does so, the crowd gasps, though I can't comprehend why. So what her cloak billows in the wind. I'm sure they've seen better effects. Then the crowd starts to go wild about something, and I'm not sure what it is until they starting shouting "District Twelve" over the music and then of all things, my name.

I can't let it get to me though. I'm supposed to look imposing and intimidating while Sakura does all the charming. But I'm curious and so take Tomoyo's advice and catch a glimpse of myself in one of the televisions and nearly break out of character at what I see.

I don't know how she did it, but somehow Tomoyo has managed to make it appear that I have wings, ethereal angel-like white wings that just almost seem to glow, making me look truly like a guardian angel as I hover over Sakura, who is playing the part of the charming star mistress and also has her fair share of admirers if the way her name is also being chanted is anything to go buy. She plays her part perfectly, mostly because she's not really playing a part.

Sakura has always exerted a certain vibrancy and charm that makes people admire her and the people of the capitol are no different. Flowers are being thrown at us and Sakura catches one, giggles as she smells it and then blows a kiss in the general direction it comes from. The crowd goes wilder and if it weren't for the fact that this kind of attention ensures that sponsors will be interested in us enough to save us in the arena, I wouldn't be able to stand it.

Finally, we enter the city circle and all the chariots fill the loop of the circle and then come to a halt in front of the President's mansion.

President Fei Wang, a large man with short black and white hair, gives the official welcome from a balcony above us. It's commonplace for the cameras to cut away from the president to the tributes and usually they are given equal spotlight, but it's not the case this year. The camera can't seem to stay away from my and Sakura's chariot if the way I keep catching myself on the televisions is anything to go by.

The other tributes are not happy, and I can feel the angry and disgruntled glares of the career tributes. Sakura and I have effectively stolen the show. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch one tribute staring at us, but instead of looking angry, he looks amused. It's the big stocky boy from District Seven, whom Sakura has dubbed Kero. He notices I'm looking at him and grins widely. I simply look away.

When the national anthem plays, the chariots parade around the circle one last time before disappearing into the training center.

Tomoyo and Demetrius immediately seize us.

"That went much better than I thought it would. You two did great. They loved you!" Tomoyo gushes.

Sakura, however, looks uncomfortable and noticing that I'm concerned, she says, "The other tributes… They're angry at us."

Sakura has always been especially in tune to what others are feeling, even though most of the time she can't sort through her own. She especially hates when people dislike her and this situation is no different.

"It's the Magic Games, Sakura," I say. "They're jealous because we got all the attention."

"I know. But…" she trails off.

I press my lips together in effort not to say anything particularly harsh to her, but I'm finding that increasingly hard to do. Sakura would try to be friends with her worst enemy if she could manage it. But this is the Magic Games, and I'm not going to let that happen.

"These people can't and won't ever be your friends," I snap at her. So much for not being harsh. "If you want to go home, all of them have to die. I have to die. And you have to accept that."

Tears are forming in her eyes.

"I don't want anyone to die. I don't want you to die."

I know I've gone too far, but I'm not going to stop. She can't look weak. If she does, it makes my job of protecting her that much harder. Better she face this now, before we get into the arena.

"Well I have to if you want to live. In fact," I add, "If it even looks like I'm going to turn on you, if for one minute you feel like you can't trust me to make sure you're alive to see the end of the Magic Games, I want you to do something."

"What?" Sakura asks.

"I want you to kill me."

* * *

**AN: **You know the great thing about this story when it comes to all the costumes is that Cardcaptor Sakura already has some great costumes that I just have to describe. So me with my lack of taste in fashion didn't have to come up with anything for this. Yue's costume is what he wears in the show and Sakura's is a version of what she wore in the final judgment.

At the risk of sounding like some of those review junkies I know who won't post a chapter unless they get enough reviews, just a note that reviews make me want to update faster and not just when I get around to it. So if you're reading this story and you enjoyed it (or even if it appalled you) please leave a review.


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

It doesn't take me long to start to feel guilty about being so harsh on Sakura and when I say not long, I mean that we're barely on the elevator before I begin to regret it. Thus, I avoid looking at her as we make our way to the top floor of the training center, where we will be staying until we're sent into the arena.

I suppose I care about her more than I thought I did. It's not really strange since we've grown up together. I'm not trying to be mean to her, but how else am I supposed to get her to understand the gravity of her situation without being harsh about it. She's not here to make friends. She can't afford to try.

Yet, that's the way Sakura is. It's one of the things I admire about her. She always manages to see the good in everyone, and I don't want her to be so traumatized by the games when it's all over so that she loses that part of herself. But how am I supposed to keep her alive and let her keep that part of her.

As I'm contemplating this, Sonomi is going on and on about the impression Sakura and I have made and about the way we conduct ourselves. Apparently, we're the first tributes that she's had that actually have a shot at all this and she's not keeping quiet about it to anyone. She's been bragging to anyone who will listen in an effort to get us sponsor.

"I've been very mysterious, though," she says. "Because, of course, Clow hasn't bothered to tell me your strategies. But I've done my best with what I had to work with. How Yue is willing to sacrifice himself to protect the only family he knows. How you've both successfully struggled to overcome the barbarism of your district."

I openly scoff at this and can't help but saying aloud, "That's supposed to be a compliment coming from the woman preparing us for slaughter."

Sakura giggles and for the first time, Sonomi seems to be affected by something I've said or done, because she glares at me right before the elevator opens to our suite. She's had it with my attitude, because while she offers to show Sakura to her room, she tells me that she's sure I can find my room myself.

I do.

My room is bigger than our entire house in District Twelve and if I thought the showers on the train were complicated, then I don't know what to call the showers in the suites. I don't bother with all the buttons and simply turn it on hot. It runs as I try to figure out how in the world I'm supposed to get this costume off. After about five minutes, I'm almost desperate enough to try to find Tomoyo, but I figure it out. Once I get the armor off, the rest is easy.

Once I shower and pick some random clothes to put on, I wait on the bed for Sonomi to come get me for dinner. As I wait, my mind goes back to how I'm going to rectify this situation with Sakura. I haven't made any progress when there's a knock on my door.

I expect it to be Sonomi, but it's Sakura.

She shyly bats her eyes and looks at her feet before saying, "Dinner's ready."

"Where's Sonomi?" I can't help asking.

Sakura giggles. "Still mad at you," she says as she leads me to the dining area.

"You're not?" I ask without thinking.

Sakura stops and turns to me then.

"Not what?"

"Mad at me… for what I said earlier."

Sakura shrugs.

"It's okay."

I shake my head. "No. It's not. I apologize. I was unnecessarily harsh."

Sakura doesn't say anything at first, but I know she has a response.

Finally she says, "When Toya came to say good-bye to me after the reaping, he told me that you promised to protect me in the games."

She pauses to gauge my reaction, but seeing that I have none, she continues.

"Then he told me to remember that in order to protect me, you might be harsh with me sometimes, but that's because sometimes it's the only way you can show how much you care and hide how afraid you really are and not to take it to heart," Sakura explains. Then she looks up at me and smiles. "So don't feel bad, Yue. I understand why you can be so harsh sometimes."

I should be bothered by the fact that Toya knows me so well that he warned Sakura in advance about how I might treat her. I should be bothered by the fact that Sakura now knows how to look past my cold exterior and see what I'm really feeling. I should feel vulnerable right now and normally when I feel like this, I lash out. But I can't bring myself to because for some reason, I am relieved that she doesn't hold my harshness against me.

So I smile, just barely, but Sakura sees and I can tell it pleases her by the way her eyes shine and the grin that stretches across her face.

"We better hurry up or else Sonomi will be mad at both of us for holding up dinner," I say.

When we arrive, everyone, even Clow, is already at the table. If we are late, Sonomi doesn't bother to point it out. Tomoyo and Demetrius are there too, which makes me to know that we aren't just gathering to celebrate a night gone well, but to strategize.

By the time Sakura and I have sat down, Tomoyo is discussing what she has planned for my outfit during the interviews that will happen after training is done. As soon as I sit down she looks at me and sighs.

"You were perfect Yue. I think this will be the highlight of my career."

I am tempted to ask how long she's had a career considering I'm convinced she's a little younger than me, but I don't. Instead I look at Sakura, who is inspecting a glass of wine one of the servants have set in front of her. She looks back at the servant, probably to give it back or even ask what it is, but she stops short.

I look at the servant to see why and when I do, my eyes widen in surprise. The dark red hair, the striking features, the porcelain white skin. I know this girl and I remember exactly where from and when. Sakura was with me.

I look back at Sakura to see her open her mouth, probably to ask the girl outright if they had met before, but I kick her under the table before she can. Sakura glances at me questioningly, and I shake my head. She nods.

Our exchange, from kicking her to her nodding in understanding, is not discrete. Everyone notices, but I ignore them and we move through dinner again. Then we go to the sitting room to watch the replay of the ceremonies.

Tomoyo sighs dreamily as we watch and says, "A few of the other districts look good, but none of them can touch you all. Even if you don't make anymore impressions after this, you all are guaranteed to get some good sponsors from this."

Clow decides to speak up now, and I realize this is the first time I've heard him say anything since we got off the train.

"They make a good pair. Sakura's charm offsets Yue's quiet rebellion."

Not until Clow mentioned it did I see my actions as even remotely rebellious, but as I glance back at the screen, I notice that my costume isn't the only thing that has distinguished Sakura and I. Apparently, I am the only tribute who did not bother to wave or acknowledge the crowd.

"But this also presents us with a problem, because while they make a great pair and Sakura's charming enough on her own, Yue… Well, as Sakura stated on the train, he has the charm of a rattlesnake and that may present itself as a problem in the interviews."

Sakura giggles, but I don't find this at all amusing. The interviews are the last impressions Sakura and I will get to make, and Clow's right. My hostile nature will hardly endear the people of the Capitol to me. It's the reason Toya and Sakura are the only ones who can be bothered to tolerate me back home.

"What do you want me to do?" I ask.

Sonomi rolls her eyes. "Well acting more like a person instead of a robot will help. Smile a little. Stop being so serious about everything. Relax."

Sonomi is only trying to help, and this is despite the fact that I angered her earlier, but I find myself agitated by her advice anyway. How am I supposed to find it in me to smile about anything considering we're being prepared for slaughter? How am I supposed to relax with that kind of burden?

Now I'm angry and not just because of Sonomi's thoughtless comment, but also because this entire situation is frustrating and unfair and uncertain. If I'm honest with myself, I'm more terrified of what's going to happen than I'm willing to show because I have to keep up a strong front for Sakura's sake. I hate the lack of control I have over this situation. No. Control isn't the right word. I hate that I can't find a way to adapt. Maybe that's the word. Either way, I care little about controlling my temper, and I respond before I can think about what I'm saying.

"My sincerest apologies for not being as thrilled as you think I should be about the fact that I have to ensure that twenty-two people plus myself die so I can keep the promise I made to ensure someone's little sister gets home in one piece," I say and without asking to be excused or even declaring where I'm going, I storm out the room.

I'm not even out the room when Sonomi says, probably to Clow, "See! This is what I'm talking about."

I pretend not to hear her. I don't care what she says anyway. When I get to my room, I try to close my door, but someone catches it. I'm surprised there was a soul brave enough to chase after me. They won't be so brave in a moment though.

"What?" I snap turning to face the person and then upon seeing Sakura standing in the doorway I groan and say, "Oh. It's you."

Sakura's obviously intimidated by my ire, but doesn't leave. Instead she opens and closes her mouth a few times before saying, "Tomoyo showed me the roof earlier."

I only continue to stare her, hoping she understands that I want her to get to the point.

"I was thinking maybe we can go up there. You can see the whole city. It's a nice view. It might be a little windy, but I think you could use a little air since you probably feel a little constricted not being about to go outside or anything."

She's shuffling her feet now. Honestly, I really don't want any company, but Sakura may be right about the air doing me some good.

"Fine," I huff.

I allow Sakura to lead me up some stairs that lead to the roof. When we arrive, I have to admit, I feel a little better and the view of the city, all lit up in the night sky, is nice.

"There must be some kind of force field to keep us from jumping," I say and the look Sakura gives me tells me that I'm right.

"There's a garden over here," Sakura says though she doesn't lead me there. She's waiting to see if I'm interested.

I sigh. "You can relax. I'm not going to lose my temper again."

She obviously doesn't believe me, but starts to lead me to the garden anyway.

Because the wind has blown blossoms at me, causing me to instinctively reach out to catch one, the first thing I notice is that the sakura trees are in bloom. As I play with the blossom, Sakura starts to speak from where she's bent down to admire some kind of purple flower.

"You don't have to be so mean to them. They just want to help."

And there she goes again. Always seeing the best in people.

"Is that what you think?"

Sakura only smiles a little and then says, "I know you're not exactly here to protect me because you like me or anything and that you're just keeping your word to my brother, but… but do you mind just listening to what I think, without the sarcasm and the harshness?"

I nod my head absently.

"You like to pretend you don't care, but I think the truth is that you care way more than you want to and things affect you more than you like to show."

I open my mouth to refute that, but Sakura gives me a pointed look and I remember that I agreed not to be harsh or sarcastic and to simply listen.

"But no one's going to think you're weak if you show that a little. No one will hold it against you."

"Even in the Magic Games?" I ask and it's not meant to be sarcastic. I genuinely want to know what she thinks.

"Even in the Magic Games. Showing that you're just a little vulnerable makes you easier to sympathize with."

"So I'm hard to sympathize with?" I ask.

"No," Sakura says as she moves to inspect the tree of the flower she's named after. "But that's because I know you. I guess what I'm trying to say is that just because you have weaknesses and things effect you like they affect any other human being doesn't make you any less strong. Actually, I think the fact that you can be strong despite all of that says something about your strength."

I'm not sure what she's trying to get at, so I just ask her.

"What's your point?"

"Just be you, Yue."

I can't hold the sarcastic comment this time.

"Wasn't I just being criticized for that?"

Sakura smiles. "The coldness and the harshness is just one aspect of you, Yue. There's a lot more to you than that and if you decide to show it, maybe Sonomi, Clow, all the people of the Capitol, will see what I see when I look at you."

I ask the obvious question.

"What do you see?"

Sakura gives me a mysterious smile and even in the dark, I can see that her eyes are twinkling with mischief.

"You can figure that out," she says.

I'm about to suggest that we both go inside, because it's starting to get chilly. If I'm starting to feel the cold, then Sakura definitely is. However, something Sakura said earlier nags me, and I figure if I need to start showing other aspects of my personality, I may as well start now with someone I'm a least a little comfortable with.

"You don't think I like you?"

Sakura looks up. "What?"

"Earlier, you said I'm only protecting you for Toya, not because I like you. You think I hate you?"

She shrugs. "I know you care, but you're just a naturally caring person. You'd do your best to take care of and protect anyone if you knew it was in your power to."

I want to disagree with that, but it's not the point. But I don't know what to say since something in me doesn't want to verbally admit that I more than just like Sakura. I actually admire her a lot and in some strange and possibly misguided effort to protect that, I sometimes act indifferent towards her.

I start to leave the roof, deciding it doesn't really matter, but I at the last minute, I find that I can gather enough courage to say, "I'm not just protecting you for Toya. I'm doing it for me too."

I don't stick around to see Sakura's reaction but I don't need to. I know her eyes are wide with pleasant surprise and joy at my simple admission. And a very large part of me is pleased that I was the one to make her feel that way for once.

* * *

**AN: **I particularly liked this chapter. Why? Well, because I was really able to see how well Cardcaptor Sakura and aspects of the Hunger Games meshed together. While the Hunger Games has a lot of violence and action, it's a very emotionally driven story and reminds me of how emotionally driven Cardcaptor Sakura was which is why I was so eager to write this sorta crossover.

At the risk of sounding like some of those review junkies I know who won't post a chapter unless they get enough reviews, just a note that reviews make me want to update faster and not just when I get around to it. So if you're reading this story and you enjoyed it (or even if it appalled you) please leave a review.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: **So this chapter has been done for the whole week, but I didn't put it up and the reason for it may seem a little bratty, but I'll say it anyway. I didn't post the chapter because I received** no reviews** for the last chapter. At first I chalked it up to the holidays, but that didn't make sense because I got the most hits and first time visitors in three days for one update than I did for any other chapter and the most first time visitors and hits for a story in a week that I've had for this story, so I know someone read the last chapter. So I waited and still nothing. So as result of this, I've come to understand why some authors do what I'm about to do which is instate a review quota.

All I'm asking for is **2 reviews **per chapter. That's it! Totally not unreasonable. If I get that I'll continue to update every three days unless it's totally out of my control. If not, I'll just wait and see what happens.

Normally I hate authors who give review quotas, because they create a quote and then won't update until three months after the review quota is met, but I don't plan to be like that. You meet the quota, you get the update three days after the previous update.

* * *

**6**

Sakura had been right. Going up to the roof the night before had done wonders for my mood, and I make it a point to go up there again the next time I have some mood swing or another. I am not hungry the next morning, so even the smell of breakfast doesn't make me want to get out of bed. But when I catch the smell of coffee mixed in, I decide to drag myself out of bed and get ready for the day.

There's already an outfit for me to wear and I suppress my annoyance at the fact that once again, I have no control over any of this. The simplest things are beginning to bother me in the Capitol now.

Still, I get ready and throw on the black pants, tunic, and leather shoes before making my way out to the dining area where a buffet breakfast is waiting. Sakura is already there enjoying some of the sweet fruit that's been provided, while also talking to Clow.

I find the coffee at the end of the table, pour a cup and sit with them.

Clow looks up from where he's talking to Sakura to look me over. Then he says, "Is that all you want? You and Sakura have a long day ahead of you."

Instinctively, I get ready to tell him that back in District Twelve, we had longer days and because there usually wasn't enough food to go around, I was used to drinking coffee and calling it a day. Then I remember that I'm supposed to be working on acting more like my whole self rather than the cold and harsh part. Thus I sigh and say, "This is fine."

Clow doesn't argue, and Sakura smiles in approval.

"Are you ready to talk about your training?"

Honestly, I've been ready for it since we got here as I hate the preliminary farce that is supposed to somehow make the Magic Games some distinct honor.

"Been ready," I mutter instead and I'm aware that this being personable thing is going to take some practice. As it is, I sound brusk more than anything.

"Normally, I ask if you want me to coach you together or separately, but since you," Clow points at me, "are here to protect her," Clow then points at Sakura, "I'm guessing that's a non-issue."

"Why would anyone was to be coached separately?" Sakura asks.

"Just in case one of the tributes has a secret skill that they don't want the other district tribute to know about," I explain to Sakura.

Sakura nods in understanding, though the idea seems to bother her, and I'm again reminded that she really is too pure hearted to be participating in all this.

"Since that isn't the case with you, let's talk about your other talents besides magic."

Clow looks at me expectantly and something tells me he's already gotten his fair share of information from Sakura, but wants me to verify it.

I cross my arms while saying, "You seem to already know this, but I'll say it anyway. Archery."

"And how talented are you?" Clow asks.

"I don't miss," is my reply. It may sound arrogant, and it might be the opposite of making myself more likable, but it's the truth. When I decide to shoot something, I don't miss, even when it's a moving target. Magic may have something to do with that though.

Clow seems to like my answer.

"Then stay clear of anything that even resembles a bow and arrow in the training," he says.

This bothers me. I've been itching to get my hands on anything resembling a bow and arrow since I got here and that may have something to do with my unusually bad mood these last two days.

"Don't worry about any of the physical training though. What I want you to focus on is the magic." He turns to Sakura. "You and I have already discussed what you're going to do so why don't you let me talk to Yue for a moment?"

Sakura and Clow share a secret smile and now I'm finding it very hard to be personable, especially since I'm being left in a room alone with Clow.

"I thought we established that we'd train together?" I ask.

Sakura rolls her eyes. "Yue, Clow and I have been up for hours and when I told him you wouldn't be up any time soon, we talked. Relax. I know you're not plotting a way to get rid of me in the games. By the way, Sonomi says to meet her at the elevator at ten so that she can take us to training."

I watch her leave and then reluctantly turn to Clow.

He starts the conversation.

"I've wanted to talk to you for a while, Yue."

"I haven't, so what makes you think I'm open to it now?" I ask.

"Nothing except the promise of Sakura that you'll try to behave. She didn't make any promises, but she assured me that much."

"Can you get to the point?" I ask.

Clow only smiles patiently at me. "I want to talk about your magic now. Sakura's obviously very talented to have learned so much on her own."

I frown at that. What does he mean by "so much?" It makes me wonder how long Sakura has been practicing magic without me of Toya knowing. Probably as long as I've been doing the same to them.

"So what have you learned?"

I'm so used to not talking about my magic that now that I have the opportunity to, I find it difficult.

" I'm good with yin magic," I finally give.

"Yin magic?" Clow asks and I know it's not because he doesn't know what it is, but that he is surprised I do. "Tell me more. Be more specific."

So I elaborate. I tell him about my specific strengths and weaknesses in regards to that kind of magic. I've gotten good at manipulating water and even the wind and I've been working on creating magical illusions.

Then Clow asks me about yang magic.

"I can work with it. But not as easy as yin magic." Actually, yang magic is not easy for me to work with at all.

Clow narrows his eyes at this for a moment, and I wonder what I've said that intrigues him so much, but I don't bother to ask.

"While most people usually lean either way, I find it interesting that you seem to find ease with _all _types of yin magic."

"That's not normal?"

"It's not bad either, it's just that most people only find ease with a specific type of yin or yang magic. It says a lot about you, Yue."

There's something about the way he says this that bothers me. It's like I've revealed something about myself to him that not even I know about because I have told him about my magical talents. It puts me instantly on guard.

Clow must detect that I'm done talking about magic because he moves on to something else.

"Now usually, I wouldn't worry about this, but Sonomi is concerned about your lack of appeal," he says. "She thinks you're too much of a pretty boy to be able to pull off you cold and hostile approach."

"I'm working on it," I grumble. I won't even bother to address that Sonomi called me a pretty boy.

"But now that I know a little more about you, I think I know what angle you're going to come from and you won't have to work that hard to pull it off. So I've got some extra training for you when you get back, but don't worry about it right now. For now, a few last minute things. One is I want you to stay at Sakura's side at all times during training."

I was going to do that anyway.

"And learn something you don't know anything about. Don't try to be exceptionally talented at anything though, especially not magic."

I nod and then Clow dismisses me so that Sonomi can't blame him for making me late.

Since I didn't eat anything, I wait by the elevator for Sonomi and Sakura. When they arrive, the elevator takes us to where we'll train, below ground level. All the other tributes are already there and a cloth with the number 12 on it is pinned onto my and Sakura's backs. When that's done, Sakura and I head over to where all the tributes are gathered. I miss the name of the head trainer as I assess the tributes, instinctively looking for those who will be the most threatening to Sakura and by proxy me since I have to protect her from them.

All the boys and many of the girls are much bigger than she is, but only because Sakura is naturally small. Most of them don't look as well fed and healthy as she does which evens out the advantage. Most of them don't concern me. But the ones from the career districts and the male from District Seven do.

Spinel, from District Two is about my height, but has a wider build than I do. Ruby, the girl with red hair about as long as mine, is shorter than I am but that does nothing to make me underestimate her. They both have strong magic, and they probably have a better idea of how to use it than Sakura and I do. Of all the careers, they are the ones I'm most concerned about.

Kero, as Sakura has taken to calling the boy from District Seven, has short yellow-blonde hair and is huge, even bigger than Spinel and much bigger and taller than I am. I haven't figured out what to make of him yet, especially when I see him catch Sakura's eye (she has an odd fascination with him) and he grins, to which Sakura grins right back. I can see this becoming an issue in the future.

When we're dismissed, Sakura immediately goes over to the stations that involve magic and I follow, not really doing anything besides watching her. What the trainers are teaching is nothing very impressive, but each and every magic station gains Sakura's rapt attention when we go to them, even though she doesn't try to attempt any of the things they're teaching.

Eventually we get to the station that teaches how to light a fire, with both magic and with sticks. Since fire is a type of yang magic, I don't bother to attempting it. So I decide to learn how to do it with the sticks since magic can fail, and there are ways to block a person's magic.

Sakura is having difficulty with producing fire though, and I'm just about to suggest that we move on to something else when a voice says, "You'll never be able to manipulate fire with your magic if you don't use a little fierceness, kid."

Kero is standing over us, looking as cocky and smug as I had guessed from my first impression of him.

"Fierceness?" Sakura asks.

"Yeah. Fire doesn't listen to pansies. Don't act like it's a request. Command it," Kero says.

Sakura looks hesitant and I huff. Sakura doesn't have a commanding bone in her body, but she tries it anyway and is rewarded with a spark of flame on the piece of wood she was using as a starter.

She gasps in delight and then turns to the District 7 boy and says, "Thank you, Kero!"

Sakura realizes she has called the boy by the nickname she gave him and blushes while muttering an apology.

Kero laughs. "Cerberus can be a bit of a mouthful, can't it? It's alright, kid. I've been called worse."

This is the first time I have really registered his name, and I can't help saying, "You're named after a mythical hellhound."

Kero huffs and shoots right back, "You're named after the moon."

I'm not used to people brushing me off so easily and find myself annoyed with Kero because of it. Unfortunately, he tags along with us for the rest of the day as Sakura seems to have taken a genuine liking to him. He even sits with us at lunch where Sakura and I find out he has an incurable sweet tooth.

I was right in my first impression of him. I quickly decide he is the bane of my existence, and this is after spending a lot more than five minutes with him.

"Why don't we go over there?"

Kero is already headed towards the archery station before Sakura or I can come up with something else.

Then Sakura says, "Clow told you not to go near it. Not me."

Thus I follow her and Kero, but make sure to keep a distance from the actual station less I decide to disregard Clow and take a shot anyway. It's hard, especially when I have to watch Kero clumsily try and fail to use the weapon, even with the trainer's instruction. It doesn't take the trainer long to give up trying to instruct Kero and decide he is a hopeless cause, but Kero keeps trying anyway.

I watch him clumsily try to shoot, while Sakura laughs at him, a little longer before I can no longer take watching him anymore.

"Hold your elbow in more," I advise.

Kero looks at me in surprise as does Sakura, but I ignore them both and walk over and pull Kero's elbow in for him anyway.

"You're too tense. Drop your shoulders."

Kero does so and thinking he's ready to shoot, starts to let an arrow fly but I grab the arrow.

"You can't just haphazardly let it go. Take a moment to listen and watch out for anything that might mess up the projection of the arrow," I add.

Once I am positive Kero has done this, I let go of the arrow and step aside. Kero then lets the arrow fly and though the shot is not perfect, it's a drastic improvement over what he was doing before. He actually hits a target.

Kero is looking at me now, and it's probably the most serious I've ever seen him look.

"Thanks," he says slowly.

I don't reply or even acknowledge that I heard him, but I'm much more content to watch him practice with the bow and arrow now that he's not using it wrong.

"Hey kid," Kero says when he's done. "Why don't you try?"

Sakura shakes her head, but Kero insists and eventually, Sakura tries her hand at the bow and arrow. Seeing that she's not as hopeless as Kero was, the trainer actually has the patience to help her.

Kero comes to stand next to me.

"Looks like someone has a hidden talent besides hovering over his little star mistress."

That's the one drawback to Tomoyo basing our costumes off that story. I doubt anyone sees us as anything beyond that now, even though that silly legend is nowhere near true.

I don't reply to Kero, but he doesn't seem to mind this and says, "Come on. I'll teach you something now."

I look at him and then back at Sakura, who is still being instructed on how to use the bow.

Kero rolls his eyes. "Sakura will be fine for five minutes. We're not in the arena yet. Now come on. We're just going right there," he says and points to the weapons rack.

A few of the careers are over there, but Kero doesn't seem to be intimidated by this as he stalks over and grabs a large ax. He is from the district responsible for wood and lumber so this is not surprising.

"Archery will protect you from long range attacks, but not for short range," Kero said. "Archery can be your ace card. You know how to use anything else?"

I eye the weapons and shake my head.

"Then let's start you off with something simple," he says and grabs a small dagger.

"Easily concealed and easy to take your opponent by surprise with if they manage to corner you. Why don't you try throwing it?"

He hands me the dagger and I test its weight in my hands to figure out how hard I should throw it, but he stops me before I can even try.

"Throw straight. Don't let your arm fall before you let go of the dagger. It will mess up your aim."

I nod and the dagger at the very least hits the target.

"It's your wrist," Kero says retrieving the dagger. "Keep it from bending and with a little practice, you'll be a decent shot."

"How do you know so much about throwing knives?" I ask.

Kero grins and directs me to move out the way.

"It's just like throwing an ax, except throwing an ax takes a little more strength."

That said, Kero throws his ax and hits the target right in the center. He goes to retrieve the ax and then directs me to try again with a series of knifes this time. Two hit the targets in the center. The rest at least hit the target and I know if it comes down to it in the arena, I can probably use knives to defend myself.

"Not bad, District Twelve."

I had noticed earlier out the corner of my eye that the girl from District Two, Ruby, had been watching us. But I thought she was just waiting for us to be done.

"Why don't you let a real pro show you how it's done?" she suggests, shoving Kero out the way.

Then she takes the assortment of knives she's chosen and one by one, in quick succession, she throws three, each one piercing right where a vital organ would be if the practice dummies were real. Right in the neck, straight through the heart, right in the head. Ruby is as deadly as I knew she would be, and I haven't even seen her bother with any magic yet.

"Impressed? Scared even?" she asks as she circles me like I'm some sort of prey.

Impressed? Yes. Scared? Maybe a little but I am already thinking about how I'd deal with her if I came across her in the arena. I don't know her throwing range, but I figure if I manage to get high enough out of her reach, in a tree maybe, I could easily pick her off from far away with an arrow, but that's without knowing the extent of her magic. Before training is over, I need to find out.

I decide not to answer her. I have a feeling she's testing me. For what? I can't be sure.

"Tough guy huh?" Ruby says when she sees my expression is unaffected by her display. "I like that. You're a fast learner too. You might be useful to us."

So that's what this is about.

"Why don't you ditch the overgrown teddy bear and the little princess and come train with us?" she suggests.

I could. It would be nice to know what the careers really have going on, but it's not worth the trouble of wondering when—because it's only a matter of time—they'll decide to turn on me. That and they wouldn't let me bring Sakura along. In fact, I'm positive they can't wait to get into the arena just to kill her so I fail in protecting her because it's no secret that's what I'm here for.

"No thanks," I say coolly and start to go over to where Sakura is learning about all the magic creatures that might show up in the arena.

Ruby's not done though.

"You might be a tough guy, but not that tough, District Twelve. Maybe you didn't think it through enough. So I'm going to ask again. Come train with us?"

It's decided. I don't like this girl. And even if I did join the careers, I doubt I would be able to tolerate her long enough to learn anything from them.

"No thanks," I say again, this time not moving so that Ruby knows I'm serious.

She's angry and she makes it known.

"Are you stupid, District Twelve?"

Now Ruby is really starting to wreck my nerves and the fact that I've been trying to act more personable as per the desire of Clow and Sonomi is not making matters better. They said I need to be more personable for the Capitol, but I'm sure the suggestion didn't extend to the other tributes, especially not careers.

"No. I just don't like you."

Ruby is angrier now and part of me relishes in this accomplishment, but part of me knows that if I was a target before, I'm definitely a target now. But Ruby won't let me go after that kind of declaration.

"Well," she begins, "Can't say I didn't try. So let me warn you in advance. I think it's disgusting how you're always hovering over that little girl and you know what I do to things that disgust me? I eliminate them. So your little princess is first on my list."

She would have to kill me first, and as long as I have to protect Sakura, that won't happen.

It's almost like she's reading my mind because she smirks and says, "And I'm going to make you watch. It won't be quick either. I'm going to make it painful, carve her up into little pieces with my knife while she begs for her guardian angel to save her. Then, I'll kill you so that you die knowing you failed."

She's managed to put a chink in my façade and I regard her with a cool glare, arms crossed in a guarded manner, and lips pressed tightly together in anger. She tries to walk around me, back to the other careers, but I don't let her. I have a declaration for her.

"If you or anyone in your pack so much as hurts a hair on Sakura's head, I'll kill every single one of you."

"Is that a threat, District Twelve?"

"It's a promise. You'll be the last one to go so you can ensure I make good on it."

I doubt anyone has ever had the nerve to stand up to Ruby in her life, because her eyes practically glow with anger, and I realize she's unwittingly calling forth the magic I had been sensing from her. What happens next happens so fast, the trainers aren't quick enough to intervene so they can stop it.

Something, a red crystal, materializes in front of me and I narrowly get out of the way before it shoots forward. It embeds itself into the wall behind me, but Ruby's not done there. She grabs a knife, but I'm faster than she is and I grab her wrist before she can release it. My grip is so tight, she drops her knife and when she does that, I twist her arm behind her back. Ruby is effectively trapped.

The room is silent. The trainers are too stunned to do anything. Even the Gamemakers, who usually can't be bothered to pay attention to us, are stunned. I'm stunned because I should not have been able to do that. I've had to defend Sakura before, but I've never been in a real fight with anyone a day in my life… at least not the days I remember. But I was only eight when the Kinomotos found me. How…?

When a trainer finally gains enough sense to blow a whistle, I let Ruby go and she turns around to glare at me while rubbing her wrist. I don't worry about her coming at me again, because a trainer is here to separate us now.

"What's going on here?" the head trainer demands.

"He attacked me!" Ruby says, trying to sound helpless and failing. It might have worked if she hadn't shown how capable she was at throwing knives and using magic to defend herself. Besides, it's a blatant lie.

The trainers seem to believe it though.

"District Twelve, why don't you take the rest of today off so you can cool off?" the head trainer says firmly.

Most people would get mad, but I am not. The careers are always the favorites, so I don't bother trying to defend myself. Everyone saw what happened anyway.

"Hold on a minute. That little witch started it!" Kero shouts.

"It's fine Cerberus," I say. "Keep an eye on Sakura."

Normally, I wouldn't trust anyone to watch her, but we're not in the arena yet, so I'm not worried about her being dead by the end of the day.

As I am leaving, I see Ruby smirking and turn to meet her gaze. The message is clear. I'm her number one target. But that's fine.

Ruby is mine.

* * *

**AN: **I said anything I had to say in the first author's note, so I have nothing else to say except Happy New Year!

At the risk of sounding like some of those review junkies I know who won't post a chapter unless they get enough reviews, just a note that reviews make me want to update faster and not just when I get around to it. So if you're reading this story and you enjoyed it (or even if it appalled you) please leave a review.


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

It's not long before word gets out about what happened during training. I've barely settled into our suite when a furious Sonomi comes in, followed by an exasperated Clow.

"What happened to trying to act more personable?" Clow asks before Sonomi can screech at me.

"That went for tributes too?" I ask.

"You started a fight with another district," Sonomi shrieks. "A career district!"

I don't bother trying to explain otherwise. Sonomi seems to have made up her mind.

"Yue's not the type to start a fight, Sonomi. I'm sure it was a misunderstanding," Clow says. "The trainers are known to favor the career districts over the others."

For the first time, I appreciate Clow's sentiment.

"Still," Sonomi says. "This just makes things much more difficult."

"Actually, it makes things a little easier," Clow says. "Once this gets out, you'll probably get people who were hesitant about sponsoring you to definitely sponsor you now."

"I thought what happens in training is supposed to be secret," I say.

Clow gives me a patronizing smile in response.

"Well since you're back earlier than expected, you can go look over the books I left on your bed. You might find them helpful in making yourself more personable."

* * *

The books Clow have left me have to be more than two or three hundred years old. They talk about a caricature type called "The Byronic Hero," named after some guy from a country that's probably under water now. He's brooding, mysterious, has a greater capability in emotion than others, a rebel, superior to everyone else. All those characteristic seem like a recipe for a social outcast, but there's something about this kind of person that makes him irresistible. For some reason, people like this type of character and apparently it describes some really infamous characters created in literature way before Magea was in existence.

I doubt Clow thinks I'm this extreme, but he obviously thinks it's a persona I can pull off. I think I can pull it off. However, I have a feeling Clow has more planned than this, but I'm not curious enough to ask him about it.

Studying Clow's books aren't the only thing I study on my afternoon off.

Ruby's display of magic has made me curious. Somehow she was able to gather it to create those crystals and if she can do it, I can too. Thus I spend most of the afternoon trying to recreate her magic crystals with my own magic. I have little success, but I've learned more about connecting to my magic in one afternoon by myself than I ever could have learned in the regular training.

Sakura comes back a few hours after I return to the apartment. I hear her immediately go to her room to get changed, and I don't see or hear anything from her again until it's time for dinner.

She's excited and if this were any other situation, I might not have such an urge to disturb her excitement. But I keep my mouth shut and listen to her ramble on about Kero (this annoys me) and another female tribute, Chiharu, who she has made into a friend. By the time she is finished talking about the part of her day that I missed, I have no urge to remind her of the harsh reality of our situation. She deserves to find some happiness where she can. I'll worry about what to do about it later. I know she would never forgive me if I have to be the one to kill Chiharu or Kero, but at least I'll be dead by the end of all this too so that she can't hate me for it.

We have another long day ahead of us, so as soon as dinner is done we go straight to bed. We are sent off the next day with strict instructions to me to stay away from Ruby. They don't have to tell me that. I'm not particularly eager to get into another conflict with her either, and when we arrive at training, the trainers make clear that I'm supposed to stay as far away from Ruby as possible.

I do so for the rest of training, although we do lock eyes every now and then. It's strange, the hostility I feel toward this girl. It's like we have some longstanding rivalry that I am not consciously aware of. It is about as strange at the fact that I was so easily able to disarm and restrain her. I've thought about it constantly since it happened. I didn't learn that from anywhere that I remember.

It doesn't matter though, and we get through the second day of training without incident. The only thing worth remembering that happens is that I meet Chiharu, who also tags along with us throughout the day. Though she doesn't particularly excel at anything, she's not terrible at anything either and maybe she will be some use in the arena.

On the third day, during lunch, they begin to call the tributes in one by one for the private sessions with the Gamemakers. They call in the order of the Districts, so Sakura and I are last. I wish we weren't. It gives me longer to worry about what Sakura will do and the impression I'm going to have to make to make up for it.

Kero comes to sit next to me as we wait and says, "She'll do fine."

I don't know how he knows I'm worried about Sakura as I'm sure I have done a decent job hiding it having set my expression into my usual indifferent gaze. It must just be Kero. I've noticed he is not only good at brushing off my sarcasm and coldness and, to my dismay, teasing me (apparently Sonomi isn't the only person that thinks I'm a pretty boy), but he is also pretty decent at reading me for someone who hasn't known me for all of three days. The way he treats me reminds me of how Sakura and Toya treat each other, how siblings treat each other.

When I don't say anything, Kero continues.

"You don't give her enough credit. That kid is made of strong stuff. She's meant for some great things one day."

"I know," I say. It's one of the reasons I am going to make sure she lives through all of this.

Kero stands when they call him into the room. He pats me on the shoulder. I glare at him for touching me, but he doesn't seem fazed. He's brave. That's for sure.

"Don't worry so much, Yue. She'll be fine."

As he walks past Sakura, he grins and says, "Knock 'em dead, kid," before going in for his demonstration.

Those who remain do little more than linger around, waiting for their names to be called, as no one comes back once they are done. When there's only Sakura and I left, I look at her.

"Will you be okay?" I ask

She nods, though I can tell she's nervous. I am too. But I can't let her know it.

"Don't worry. Just do what you're best at."

It occurs to me when I tell her this that I have no clue what Sakura is best at. For the past few days, she's meandered from station to station, learning a little of everything, even reading a few of the magical theory and basic spell books provided, but I don't recall her particularly excelling at anything. Before I can ask about it though, my name has been called.

When I walk in, I instantly know that this will be harder than I first thought. I hadn't taken into account that because Sakura and I are last, the Gamemakers will have grown bored after watching twenty-two other tributes, mostly because I thought that they would at least pay attention to the boy from the poorest district who supposedly started a fight with a tribute from the most popular district. But it's been a long day and the Gamemakers are probably tired. It means I have to make a harder effort and it means that I have to impress the Gamemakers enough to make them also pay attention to Sakura when she comes in.

I grab a bow, testing the weight of it, the tightness of the sting so I can gauge the amount of tension I need to put on it. Then I weigh one of the arrows in my hand. They're heavier than what I'm used to, which means I have to adjust my form some, but nothing too troublesome.

I don't like the idea of simply shooting dummies in the heart. That's easy. So I string three of the practice dummies up with some rope on one of the lights. Then I put two on the ground. Then I push over a giant fan to mimic the wind and turn it only to mimic a light gust. A few of the Gamemakers are curious enough that they're watching me now, but most of them are too preoccupied. Hopefully that changes.

In quick succession, I let go of four arrows. Two pierce the dummies on the ground and another two pierces the two in the air, straight through the heart, despite the fact that the wind is making them move and affects the projector of my arrows. What I set to do next is trickier and it takes me a moment to get my aim right. Then I let go of arrow to sever the rope hanging the dummy and another to shoot the dummy as it falls, right through the heart.

I turn to Gamemakers when I'm done, and while one or two look impressed, the rest are focused on a roast pig that has just arrived.

Admittedly, I don't like attention and most of the time, I don't ask for it. But when I decide I need someone's attention, I don't like being ignored and the Gamemakers inattention sparks my repressed ire at this entire situation. So I make the uncharacteristic decision to make them pay attention.

There's a force field between them and the training area. I know because a stray knife bounced off of it on the second day of training. It's electronic and I bet it doesn't account for stray magic since most districts don't have tributes with much magical talent, if any. Thus I lift my bow towards it, without an arrow, to display a trick I've been perfecting over the years.

The problem with a bow and arrow is that eventually, an archer runs out of arrows. He can retrieve them, but that's if he can find them and if they aren't broken or bent out of shape when he does. Thus, I've come up with a way to concentrate my magic to create a magic arrow. I haven't perfected it yet, but I know today it will work. And it will get past the force field.

They don't notice that I've risen my bow, let alone the blue energy collecting together to form a perfect arrow. They don't even notice when I aim and let it fly.

It disappears right before hitting the force field and then reappears on the other side, causing everyone to shout and cry out in alarm as they move out of the way. The arrow cuts clean through the apple in the pig's mouth and embeds itself into the wall.

The magic lasts long enough for the Gamemakers to see the arrow for what it is before it dissipates and the apple falls to the ground. Then everyone turns to look at me in shocked disbelief.

I drop the bow on the floor and glare right back at them as I say, "Thank you for your time and consideration."

Then I bow dramatically and head straight for the exit before they even have a chance to dismiss me.

* * *

I am not in a good mood by the time I return to my own floor, walking straight past Sonomi and Clow to sit in the sitting room. I cross my arms and legs and glower at the city through the window.

I can sense Sonomi and Clow are concerned, but I'm not going to be exactly forthcoming with information unless they ask. I hear them whisper back and forth for a while. No doubt they're talking about me. Then Clow comes to sit next to me. I don't look at him.

"Did it go that bad?"

I don't particularly feel like being fussed at by Sonomi or Clow, but they're going to find out what happened anyway.

I let out a deep breath, exhaling some of my anger with it. There's no point to being angry. It won't help anything.

"I shot an arrow at the Gamemakers."

Sonomi gasps in shock, and I glance at Clow to see that though his eyes have gone wide with surprise, he doesn't seem as shocked as Sonomi does.

"You what?" Sonomi asks.

"I shot an arrow at the Gamemakers," I repeat.

"Why?" Sonomi asks in horror.

"Because they weren't paying attention."

"So that's why they looked all frazzled when they called me in," Sakura says. I hadn't even heard her come in.

When she comes to sit with Clow and I, she's trying to hold back laughter and making a point to ignore Sonomi, who finds nothing funny about this.

"This isn't funny! This is serious. The Gamemakers… They'll. They'll…"

I don't tell anyone this, but between leaving the training room, getting back to the suite, and waiting for Sonomi and Clow to get the guts to talk to me, I've already gone through the scenarios in my head.

They could arrest me or even do something to Toya back home. But in order to do that, they would have to reveal what happened during training and tradition is that what happens in training stays secret—for the most part. No to mention at this point in the games, it would be too much trouble to find a replacement for me. The most they can do is make things difficult for me in the arena, but they'll be difficult anyway. I've made an enemy out of Ruby, Sakura insists on making friends, and I've attracted more attention that I wanted in the opening ceremonies. The Gamemakers are probably already planning ways to knock me down a few pegs. If they're upset about my display earlier today, the most they can do at this point is to give me a lower score and keep people from sponsoring me. Admittedly, that worries me a little, but I can't let Sakura know that.

"Wait a minute," Sakura says. "There's a force field protecting the Gamemakers. How did you get an arrow past it?"

Clow and Sonomi look at me with the same look of wonder Sakura is.

"Magic," I reply.

"Magic!" Sonomi explains.

"The arrow was magic," I reply. "It's something I've been practicing, just in case I ever have a bow but no arrows."

Everyone is silent for a moment, probably unsure of what to make of my nonchalant attitude about all this. Then Clow asks, "How did they react?"

"Shocked. Terrified. Mostly disbelieving," I say, unable to help feeling a little smug. "The woman in there dropped her punch on her herself."

Sakura is outright laughing now.

"And what did they say to you after that?" Sonomi asks.

"Nothing. I walked out."

"Without being dismissed?" Sonomi asks dryly, and I have a feeling she's finally starting to understand that there's no point being angry at me anymore because it doesn't affect my behavior.

"I dismissed myself."

Sonomi scowls, but Clow chuckles to which Sonomi sighs and says, "Well I suppose I can't blame you. It's their job to pay attention to you."

Tomoyo and Demetrius get a good laugh over my actions over dinner later and in hindsight, away from my initial frustration at the entire situation, I can't help cracking a smile at it.

"Well, well, well," Tomoyo teases. "Looks like somebody knows how to smile after all."

After dinner, we go to the sitting room to watch the scores announced on television. First a photo of the tribute is shown, and then their score is flashed below it. The scores are an indication of the potential of a tribute and gives the capitol audience a starting place for betting. The number ranking is between one and twelve with one being the worst and twelve being the best. Though it can be an indication of who has the best chances of winning, it's not a guarantee. There have been tributes in the past that purposely got low scores to appear weaker than they actually were and then won the games. A prime example of that is the girl with no magic who won just last year. Meiling was her name. She got a low score and then at the end of the games turned out to be something of an expert in combat that helped her win the games when it was down to herself and the last five players.

Most of the Career Tributes unsurprisingly get in the eight-to-ten range, but the only one I'm specifically sure of is Ruby, who pulls a ten. The average of the rest is a five. Kero is the only one not a career who comes up with anything truly impressive: a nine. And Chiharu comes up with a six.

District Twelve is last and honestly, I'm not sure what to expect when my face shows up. I can't even remember what I did to try to impress the Gamemakers before I shot the arrow at them to begin with.

The number eleven flashes below my name.

That was unexpected.

"Guess they liked his temper," Clow mutters.

Sonomi squeals in delight, while everyone else claps, but makes a point not to touch me. I've made the highest score of the night, and it may be more problematic than the lower score part of me was expecting. While this will no doubt encourage people to sponsor me, if I wasn't a target for the career pack before, I'm definitely a target now. So while everyone else is celebrating, I frown in concern. I'm so concerned, I almost miss Sakura's score.

Shockingly, she's managed to pull an eight.

I am dumbfounded for a moment while everyone else is celebrating. Sakura doesn't have an aggressive bone in her body and as far as I know, she didn't particularly excel at anything in training or even show a natural talent for anything. How…?

I turn to look at Sakura just in time to see her share a secret smile with Clow. Apparently, I'm being kept out of the loop about something.

"This is great. Just wait until they see your outfit for the interviews," Tomoyo says. "Then they'll be really impressed."

I don't even bother to ask Tomoyo what she has planned, although I am curious how or if she's going to try to pull the wings off again.

Through the excitement, Sonomi manages to usher Sakura and I to bed for the night as we have a long day tomorrow.

When Sakura and I are out of earshot of everyone else, I stop her in the hall.

"How did you pull that score?"

Sakura shrugs, trying to appear nonchalant, but that impish sparkle in her eyes gives her away.

"Sakura," I say, "What did you do?"

She blushes and averts her gaze to the floor. She's fiddling with that necklace, the one I still haven't asked her about, again.

Then she says, "I just showed them a little magic is all."

That said, she goes to her room, closes the door, and locks it behind her so that even if I wanted to follow her and press her for more information, I couldn't. I tilt my head a little as I stare at the door. Have the games made Sakura so mysterious or has she always been this way and I didn't notice?

* * *

**AN: **I feel the need to clarify my declaration last chapter. First, I just want to say that the response was much more than I anticipated. I thought I would get two reviews and that would be it. So, **thank you**. Second, I'm aware that you won't always be able to review every chapter and I wouldn't demand that. I think there's only one story in my history here on this site where I reviewed every chapter. Realistically, not everyone who reads a chapter will review. I know that. But I don't think 2 reviews is too much to ask for within a three day time span. That said though, if the quota isn't met, I won't assume that no one is reading or that no one likes it. I'll just assume that I'll get a lot of reviews for the next chapter like I did with the last chapter.(wink, wink).

At the risk of sounding like some of those review junkies I know who won't post a chapter unless they get enough reviews, just a note that reviews make me want to update faster and not just when I get around to it. So if you're reading this story and you enjoyed it (or even if it appalled you) please leave a review.


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

The next morning, Sonomi wakes me up much earlier than I'm accustomed to, not to mention she does so loudly, practically shouting about the fact that we have a big day ahead of us.

I shout out the door that I'm awake and then go back to sleep. This is what I get for being up half the night practicing magic. It's thirty minutes later that I hear someone come into the room, and I assume it's Sonomi coming to wake me up again.

It's not. It's the red headed servant from the other day.

She and I lock eyes. I know she remembers me. I remember her too.

Four years ago, I was in the woods with Sakura. I'm very accustomed to listening to everything when I'm practicing with my bow and arrow. So when all the noises in the woods suddenly stopped at once, I knew something was wrong. That's when I saw this girl. She was running, along with some other boy. And just like she and I are locking eyes now, we locked eyes then and she yelled for my help.

I remember being tempted to do so. I could have helped them hide. I know the woods back home like the back of my hand, but then I remembered that Sakura was waiting for me just outside the woods in the field overlooking the hills. Though Sakura probably had enough sense to hide if she detected something was amiss, I wouldn't take that chance and went to get her. I didn't have to go far, because she was running in the woods toward me. Before she could say anything, I snatched her to hide under a shelf of rock.

Almost as soon as we were hidden, the hovercraft arrived. It dropped a net on the girl and pulled her in before shooting a spear at the boy and pulling him up too. I had to put my hand over Sakura's mouth to keep her from screaming. We didn't move from where we were hidden for a long time, not until we were certain that the hovercraft was gone and after that, I didn't go into the woods for a week, mostly for Sakura's sake. I'm actually surprised Sakura wasn't more affected when she saw this girl, but she probably doesn't remember the event as well as I do because she hasn't asked me about it.

We stare at each other for a long time until I open my mouth to say something, but can't find the words to do so.

Then she smiles and nods her head and somehow, I know she understands what I wanted to say but couldn't.

It's after she leaves the room that Sonomi comes to get me again, and I finally get up. Sakura is already at the breakfast table with Clow and Sonomi.

"Finally," Sonomi says as I grab a cup of coffee and decide that today I'll eat breakfast. "We've got a lot to cover today and every minute counts."

Thus, Sonomi rushes me through breakfast and drags us to Sakura's room where she teaches us how to walk. Most of her time is spent with Sakura. Sonomi chooses as dress and a pair of heels before promptly putting me out the room so Sakura can change. She lets me back in when Sakura is done and then instructs Sakura on how to walk. Sakura looks awkward in the heels and wobbles in them mostly, but seems to get the hang of wearing them. Then Sonomi scolds Sakura for her tendency to not make eye contact with people, but that's just something Sakura does with everyone.

Then Sonomi is on to me. She doesn't criticize how I walk and actually compliments me on it. I think it may be the first time Sonomi has complimented me on anything.

Then the woman sits us both down to practice smiling. Sakura has no problem with this. She's always smiling. I, on the other hand, have difficulty with this feat. Even when Sonomi tries to make me say words that make it appear that a person is smiling, I can't seem to pull off a genuine looking smile. Not that I'm trying to.

"Move your lips, Yue! Talk a little louder. That would help," Sonomi scolds.

It only serves to make me even more uncooperative. I wasn't trying before, but now I've purposefully set my expression into a fixed glare.

Sonomi sighs. "Is there anything that can make you smile? Have you ever even smiled for the heck of it before? Don't you have any friends you can laugh and joke around with?"

I don't joke and as for having friends, my mind goes back to Toya, and though his presence pleases me, comforts me even, I've never felt the need to smile around him all the time, even when he makes a joke. I guess that's because Toya's not really inclined to smile much himself even though I'm sure he does so more than me, mostly when Yukito is around.

"Come on," Sonomi says. "I'm trying to be patient and work with you Yue, but you're making it hard. You can't think of one thing, one person that makes you smile."

My thoughts immediately go back to a couple of nights ago, when Sakura told me that she didn't hold my harshness against me and then later that same night when I admit that I have my own selfish reasons for protecting her. Sakura makes me smile more often than anyone else, even though it's rare. I find it hard not to be inclined to smile at her more often than not. There is something about her purity and inner light that pleases me even more than her brother sometimes. When did that happen?

Ever since I first met her, I realize. After her bold declaration that she wanted us to be friends when she was four, I smiled at her, but I hadn't remembered until this moment.

"Well," Sonomi asks.

I press my lips together. Just because I realize who can manage to get a smile out of me does not mean I'm telling Sonomi, especially not with said person sitting next to me. I don't want Sakura to get the wrong idea. What that wrong idea is, I'm not sure.

"I'd prefer not to say," I say when I realize that Sonomi will not let this go until I answer.

Sonomi looks at me for a moment and then says with a grin, "Look at that. You're actually being bashful."

"I am not," I grumble, but this only makes things worse. Even Sakura is giggling now.

"That's okay. But whoever it is, try to think about them during your interview. Imagine you're talking to this person."

She's done with us by the time lunch comes around and even though I'm not hungry, Sonomi insists upon it, saying I'll miss a good meal once I'm in the arena. Once we're done, Clow takes us both to the sitting room to discuss what we'll say during the interviews with Makato Fukui."

"Sakura, your interview is very important, because you'll be the set up," Clow says.

"The set up for what?" I ask.

"For your interview," Clow says to me.

"I'm guessing we're still taking the moon guardian and star sorceress approach," I say.

Clow only nods and then says, "Sakura, you have the easy part. You have a natural charm that makes people like you, whether they want to or not. All I need you to do is answer Makato's questions honestly."

Sakura nods, her expression schooled in that serious way it's always in when she's paying close attention to something.

"Eventually, he's going to ask you about Yue and—"

"How can you be so sure?" I cut in.

"Sure about what?" Clow asks in return.

"That Makato is going to ask Sakura about me?"

Clow gives me that patient smile of his, but I'm not irritated by it today because something tells me his reply is going to bother me more.

"Because of the story?"

"What about it?" I ask, but Sakura seems to have caught on because a blush is slowly spreading across her cheeks.

"Yue," she mutters. "Think about the story. Think about who the moon guardian is."

I tell myself the story of the star sorceress in my head and when I get to the part where it describes her moon guardian, I recite what little the legend says about him.

"Silent protector, mysterious, maybe brother, confident, friend, l—" I stop abruptly and then look at Sakura who's avoiding my gaze and then turn to glare at Clow. "I'm not doing it."

Sakura sighs and looks at Clow as she says, "I told you he wouldn't go for it."

"You knew about this?" I ask sharply.

"It wasn't her idea. So don't be mean to her," Clow says before I can say something harsh to Sakura.

"Then whose idea was it?"

"Well… You've kind of given everyone the idea as it is. We're just taking advantage of it," Clow says.

"Me," I say. "How exactly did everyone get the idea that…?"

I trail off as I realize how. Clow looks at me knowingly, and I know without a doubt I'm right. At the reaping. And everything else I've done, always hovering protectively over her, not leaving her side, getting into a fight with a tribute over it, all of it has contributed to the idea that… I can't even say it.

"So what do you think?" Clow asks.

"She's fourteen," I say.

"So?" Clow asks and I realize that he has a point. It's not uncommon in the districts for a young girl to be dating or simply spending time with men up to ten years older, maybe more, especially when getting married as soon as you're not eligible for reaping is a sure way for girls to avoiding going to the mines and have a secure future at the same time.

"It's something that's never been done in the games before. And it will certainly keep sponsors interested in you. Is it really so appalling to you Yue?" Clow asks with a smile on his face and instantly I know what he's trying to do.

"No," I admit as I cross my arms and then turn to Sakura who is now playing with that necklace she's been wearing since she got reaped. She's still not looking at me. "What do you think?"

Sakura's silent for a long time and then finally she says, "I think it could work—to get us sponsors I mean."

I sigh and turn to Clow, even though I'm still not exactly on board with this plan.

"I hope you don't expect me to get up there and declare my undying love for her or something," I say rolling my eyes.

"No," Clow says and this surprises me. What else does he have in mind? "We want to keep the people intrigued, wondering, come to their own conclusions based on what you do, the things you say. That's more interesting than hearing it from your mouth."

"I still don't know what you want me to say," I reply.

Clow sighs. "Don't be so difficult Yue. You've been interested in a girl before. What would you have said in that case?"

"I wouldn't know," I say. "I've never been interested in anyone before."

Clow looks surprised. "No one?"

"No one."

"If he was," Sakura mutters, "He wouldn't have known it."

"What do you mean by that?" I demand.

Sakura rolls her eyes, her embarrassment from earlier gone. "I mean you're not exactly known for be particularly extroverted. And while you can pick up on what people are feeling most of the time, you like to pretend you're above your own emotions because they scare you. So if you were in love with anyone you wouldn't notice it. And you definitely wouldn't know if someone was in love with you just because you wouldn't want to face the possibility."

It's scary the way Sakura has said this. Her tone isn't one of conveying speculation, but conveying fact. A fact, I've never considered about myself. I've always known Sakura watches me, but I didn't know she paid this close attention so that she could tell me about myself with such certainty.

There's also something cynical about the way she's saying this, like she knows something that I've neglected to realize, but this is a side of Sakura I don't particularly feel like dealing with. Every now and then she turns into a person totally different from her usual innocent and pure self. It's a very brash and brutally honest part of her that she usually doesn't show unless she's truly exasperated with something and it has never failed to bring out the worst in me when it's directed toward me, which is rare. The last time she was this irritated with me, it was about me dragging her out into the woods with me while Toya was working where she made clear that she didn't always need me to look after her.

I still do so anyway.

Clow only sighs and says, "All you have to do is act the same way you've been acting, Yue. That shouldn't be too hard."

The problem with that is I have no idea how I've been acting. Is it really anymore than the way a brother might protect his sister? I'm not sure and by the time we've finished going over how we're going to steer our interviews in the right direction if Makato doesn't asks the right questions, I decide to stop trying. I have a feeling that if I overanalyze my actions, I'll mess up. Phenomenally.

When we're done, we have dinner and then Sonomi ushers us to bed. Like most nights, I don't fall asleep until well into the night, but thankfully, no one wakes me up terribly early to get ready for the day which puts me in a decent mood. So when Tomoyo does come to get me out of bed at around eleven, I don't put up any fuss.

Then my prep team gets to work on me. I find out from Tomoyo that Sakura's been getting ready since nine since it takes longer to get girls ready. She doesn't have to tell me that. I am usually waiting for Sakura in the morning before school.

It's a much better experience than when I first got here, probably because it doesn't involve scrubbing my skin until it's practically raw. My skin is covered in a fine powder that makes me have some kind of ethereal glow, like the moon and my hair is pulled back into a ponytail with purple ribbon. Then Tomoyo comes in with a white suit, accented by a purple silk dress shirt.

When I've put it on, Tomoyo comes in to do some last minute touches. First she unbuttons the two top buttons of my shirt and then brushes lint off my shoulder before going over and grabbing a white hat with purple pinstripes in it.

"A hat?" I say with a frown.

"Sakura has one. So why not you?" Tomoyo asks as she puts the hat on my head. "Besides, if you put it on like this it makes you look mysterious and brooding rather than vulnerable and hostile." She tilts the hat so that it's not straight and then pulls it over my eyes some.

Somehow, Tomoyo has picked up how nervous I am about all this without me saying. The people I've met in the Capitol are strange. It seems like everyone I have met since I've been reaped understand me more than people I've known most of my life back in District Twelve. More than understand me. They accept me despite how much I've frustrated them over the last few days. It's like they were used to me before they even knew me.

As I contemplate this, Tomoyo polishes the silver moon shaped buttons on my jacket and moon shaped cufflinks on the cuffs of my sleeves. Then she pats me on the shoulder and says, "There. Take a look at yourself."

She turns me to the mirror and I'm convinced the person in the mirror isn't me. Somehow Tomoyo has managed to quell my natural imposing demeanor. Rather than giving off an aura of intimidation that naturally repels and at the same time intrigues people, I look welcoming, attractive even, but the colors are the same as the armor she had me in during the ceremonies. It's a reminder to anyone who looks at me that the much more intimidating, imposing person is still present just a little subdued.

"What do you think?" Tomoyo asks.

I'm not one for sentiment and normally, I wouldn't say anything at all, but I do manage a quiet, "thank you."

Tomoyo grins. "No problem. Just remember, Yue. Be yourself. The people already love you more than you think they do."

Be myself. Sakura told me to do that. What is it that everyone else sees about me that I don't?

When Tomoyo is finished we go to wait by the elevator for Sakura to be done. When she comes out, I look back and am first struck by the way they've made her skin shimmer. Then I look at her dress. It's a deep pink with silver shimmering stars made of some kind jewel all over it. Every time she walks, they appear to sparkle in the light and reflect off green her eyes which are brilliant all on their own, but somehow stand out more in her outfit. The long sleeves hang off her shoulders. To match the dress, she's wearing heels that lace all the way up to her knees, meeting the dress where it stops. Like Tomoyo promises, she also has a hat, more like a tam really, to finish off the outfit.

But even amongst all this, what really catches my attention is the necklace hanging around her neck. It's definitely the one she's been playing with since we got here and this is the first time I've gotten a good glimpse of it. The pendant looks like a pink key with white wings on it and inside the loop at the top is a gold star. It's hanging on a silver chain and sits right above her breasts. I feel odd when I look at it. I feel like I've seen it before.

"Stunning. Isn't she?" Clow asks.

It's at this point that I realize I'm staring at her. Normally, I'd just brush it off, but considering what everyone expects me to pull off tonight, I'm embarrassed. Thankfully, if I tilt my head down at the right angle, my hat hides that.

After Sonomi gushes over us, we get into the elevator and steel my nerves for what I'm going to have to pull off tonight.

* * *

**AN: **So I went ahead and posted this because I got a lot of reviews for the last chapter before last, but just note that I will **not** post the next chapter without at least **two reviews**.

This chapter was amusing to write to write to say the least and definitely one of my favorite because I was really able to twist this into something very different than what is in _The Hunger Games_, yet not deviate too much. I also enjoyed putting Yue in an incredibly awkward situation as this one because I like making him squirm. And let's face it, there aren't a lot of situations that make Yue squirm.

At the risk of sounding like some of those review junkies I know who won't post a chapter unless they get enough reviews, just a note that reviews make me want to update faster and not just when I get around to it. So if you're reading this story and you enjoyed it (or even if it appalled you) please leave a review.


	9. Chapter 9

**9**

When the elevator opens, the other tributes are being lined up to take the stage. Instinctively, I hover over Sakura as we're guided to line up behind the other tributes, and Clow nods in approval.

Once we walk onto the stage, all twenty-four of us sit in a big arc throughout the interviews. An elevated seating unit has been set up for the most important guests with the stylists in the front row. The cameras will turn to them when the crowd is reacting to their outfits. A large balcony off a building to the right is reserved for the Gamemakers. Television crews are in most of the other balconies. The City Circle and the avenues that feed into it are packed with people, standing room only. At homes and community halls around the country, every television is turned on. There will be no blackouts tonight.

Makato Fukui, the man who has hosted the interviews for more than forty years, bounces onto the stage. His appearance is basically unchanged. It's the same face under a coating of pure white makeup. The same hairstyle that he dyes a different color for each Magic Game. The same ceremonial suit, midnight blue dotted with a thousand tiny electric bulbs that twinkle like stars.

In the Capitol, there's a surgery to make people appear younger and thinner. In District 12, looking old an achievement since so many people die early. A plump person is envied because they aren't scraping by like the majority of us. Here it's different. Wrinkles aren't desirable. A round belly isn't a sign of success.

This year, Makato's hair is powder blue and his eyelids and lips are coated in the same hue. He looks less frightening than he did last year when his color was crimson and he seemed to be bleeding. Makato tells a few jokes to warm up the audience, and then the interviews begin.

The way he interacts with the tributes gives me hope that I won't completely mess this up. Makato has a way of making all the tributes stand out in some way, even if they don't need the help. The careers are an example of this.

It's not hard to figure out the angle of the girl from District One with her tight see through dress, given a certain edge by her short spiky black hair. And from then on, I amuse myself by figuring out the angle of the other tributes while pointedly not thinking about my own.

Ruby is a hostile blood thirsty killer with a pretty face. Her district counterpart is mysterious and observant, but no doubt just as blood thirsty. Kero is cocky and arrogant and Chiharu is quiet, unassuming, but assures that she shouldn't be counted out the race yet.

All too soon they call Sakura and she makes her way to center stage. If she's at all nervous, she doesn't show it as she waves shyly at the crowd and bats her eyes when she gets to Makato. Then she shakes his hand and sits down.

Demetrius really has outdone himself, although I'm wondering how much Tomoyo has to do with Sakura's outfits. She's like a sparkling beacon of light. It's impossible not to focus on her.

"So Sakura," Makato says. "The Capitol must be quite a change from District Twelve. What's impressed you the most since you got here?"

"The people are so nice," Sakura says and I resist the urge to sigh. She would say that.

"Don't get me wrong," she adds quietly. "The people in District Twelve are nice too, but when I got here how helpful and loving everyone was surprised me."

It was a good answer, and Sakura has the charm to make it seem authentic even if she's lying, which she's probably not.

They talk about a few more mundane things and in between, Sakura manages to compliment Makato a few times before they get to the important part, what Clow predicted Makato would inevitably bring up.

"Now, Sakura. Let's talk about right after your reaping. Yue, your district counterpart. He volunteered. A first for your district, right?"

He's only asked her to confirm something everyone already knows, and she's already blushing and batting her eyes. It's a perfect act.

"Yes," she says.

"And am I correct in assuming that the reason he volunteered was for you?"

"Yes," she says again and then adds. "When he… When he hugged me afterwards, he told me he would protect me."

If I thought it was silent after I volunteer for the games, then I don't know what to call the silence that permeates the city circle after Sakura says this.

"And how do you feel about that?"

Sakura is silent for a long time, and I'm suddenly struck by the fact that Sakura isn't putting on an act. She and I had this conversation on the train, when she told me that I didn't have to volunteer to protect her. So I already know what she's going to say.

"I… I don't want him to have to die for me so I can win the games."

"But he's your brother isn't he? Isn't it reasonable for him to feel that way?"

Sakura replies so quickly that Makato has to ask her to repeat it.

"Yue's not my brother. He's…" she trails off and Makato looks ready to urge her into finishing her sentence but the buzzer goes off.

"Sorry we're out of time. Best of luck, Sakura Kinomoto, tribute from District Twelve."

Sakura stands and gives the crowd one final smile along with a wave before making her way back to her seat. My heart is thudding in my chest now. Sakura's interview was the perfect setup. Undoubtedly, my interview will essentially be a continuation of it. I just hope I don't mess it up. The crowd is still clapping when Sakura gets to her seat. Then my name is called and I go to center stage.

For the most part, I never care what people think about me. But for the first time, I do care and this crowd intimidates me. If I say one thing wrong, I could ruin our angle. I won't be totally hopeless. I made the highest training score, and Sakura and I were the stars of the opening ceremony but if I can just act like I might even feel something just remotely more than dutiful protector towards Sakura, I'll almost guarantee that we'll have people lined up to sponsor us.

I shake Makato's hand when we get on stage and the first thing he says is "No wings tonight?"

I know I should laugh or at least look like I'm amused, but I'm finding it as difficult to do now as I did when Sonomi was trying to get me to smile. So even though I don't want to, I think about Sakura, specifically when she told me to be myself and people would see what she did when she looked at me, whatever that is.

Finally I manage a slight smile and say, "We wanted to, but Tomoyo didn't think they would fit on the stage."

Makato laughs and so does the rest of the crowd.

"Well she's done a fine job even without the wings," Makato says and then looks for agreement from the crowd, which he gets. Then he says, "So let's talk about that training score. An eleven! How did you manage that?"

"Just some magic," I reply as I glance over to the balcony where the Gamemakers are. They're are chuckling and nodding. I guess they really did get a kick out of me losing my temper.

"You're killing us," says Makato. "Details. Details."

I smile again, though I'm sure it's very smug as I again look to the Gamemakers. "I don't think I'm supposed to talk about that."

"He's not," says the woman who spilled the punch on herself after I shot the arrow.

I look back at Makato and shrug. He feigns disappointment before going back to the interview.

"Now Yue," he says. "Your reaping. I'm sure every wants to know. Why did you volunteer? What's so special about Sakura that made you feel the need to volunteer for the games to ensure that she came out a winner?"

Somehow, I know saying that she's my best friend's sister won't work, because it takes attention away from what type of relationship I have with Sakura. And saying that I owe her won't be enough, won't be personal enough to let the people of the capitol get a glimpse of who I really am. I'm going to have to tell the story or, at the very least, a variation of it because I have no memory of my life before the Kinomotos.

"My parents died when I was eight," I begin. "I don't really remember what happened, but I think it was an accident in the house. A fire. Anyway, I think the city officials thought I was dead, because they didn't bother to come looking for me and put me in the community home. I don't really remember much of what happened afterwards. Actually, I don't remember it at all, but I do remember wandering into someone's backyard on a cloudy day and finding a little girl playing in the flowers."

The city circle is silent, and I know that every person in Magea is hanging off my every word.

"Her brother tried to protect her from me, and I don't really blame him. I probably looked a mess. But before he could hurt me, she ran in front of me and told him not to hurt me and insisted that he let me stay. I've been with them ever since. Sakura protected me once, so I owe it to her. I couldn't just let her go to the Magic Games by herself. My life seems insignificant considering I wouldn't have one if it weren't for her bravery. So I decided to volunteer."

The circle is still silent and heart is thudding faster in my chest as I wonder if I've said something wrong, if this isn't going to work.

"That's a very touching story, Yue," Makato finally says. "So tell me. Have you ever seen Sakura as your sister?"

I open and close my mouth before saying, "She's more than a sister."

"More?" Makato asks.

By this point in the interview, I feel like I'm not myself. Telling that story has opened the floodgates, and I find it much easier to answer this question than I did the last question. I even forget that I'm supposed to be tailoring my answers to fit a specific angle.

"She was my sole shining star at a time in my life where everything was covered by the night. A beacon of hope. And I'll destroy anything and anyone, who even thinks about trying to put out her light."

The buzzer sounds just as I finish and the applause that follows drowns out Makato wishing me luck. I must have done something right if the crowd is feeling so strongly. I say a quick "thank you," before going to stand in front of my seat next to Sakura. I raise my head out of respect when the anthem plays, which means I can't avoid seeing that the cameras are focused on Sakura and I.

When the anthem is over, the tributes file back into the training center lobby. Sakura and I catch an empty elevator back to our floor. She's not looking at me, and I would have to be totally oblivious not to notice the awkward tension in the air between us. If she's feeling anything like I am, she's conflicted because she's as unsure of how much of my interview was real as I am. Only I know that the story behind how we met is the true reason I volunteered. As far as she knows, I made a promise to her brother and she's grown on me in the last decade. But that last answer, where I all but declared that I worship her… I'm not even sure about that. I didn't even have to think about it when I said it. It just came out. I instantly knew what to say.

When we're back on our floor and we step off the elevator, Sakura finally speaks.

"Was that true?" she asks.

"Was what true?" I ask, though I already know what she's asking about.

"The story. About how we met. Did I really run in front of you to protect you from my brother?" she asks.

This surprises me. I thought she was going to ask about my final declaration.

I roll my eyes as I undo one of my cufflinks, trying to hide how relieved I am. "Yes. You did."

Sakura shakes her head. "I don't remember it."

I'm halfway through taking off my other cufflink when she says this and stop doing so to stare at her.

"You don't?"

"No," Sakura whispers.

I stare at her. I'm positive this happened. I know it happened. I didn't dream it. In fact, Toya and I have laughed over it before. But Sakura doesn't remember. I don't know why I'm shocked. She was only four.

"To be honest, I don't really remember a time when you weren't in my life. So in some ways, I feel like my life started that day too," Sakura confesses and then she asks, "Is that really why you volunteered?"

I don't know how to answer this, especially considering how conflicted I'm feeling given that I don't know what my declaration at the end of the interviews means in regards to how I view Sakura.

I'm saved from answering when Sonomi, Clow, Tomoyo, and Demetrius get off the elevator and come to congratulate us.

"It was perfect, Yue," Sonomi gushes. "You two are all anyone can talk about."

"Is it?" I ask in general.

"You should have seen yourself Yue," Tomoyo said grinning. "You looked totally lovesick."

I wouldn't know. I didn't feel particularly lovesick during my interview. In fact, I was mostly nervous that I was saying the right thing.

Sonomi continues to gush as we go to have dinner. I don't eat anything, and I can't help but notice that Sakura isn't eating much herself. Then we watch the replays. It's not until I watch my reply that I see what everyone else sees about my interview. It's one thing to have actually participated and done the interview, but a different thing to watch.

Everyone's right. I may not know what it's like to be in love, but my performance during the interview doesn't indicate it. At first, it's obvious I am uncomfortable with Makato's question and even more uncomfortable as I begin to tell my story. But as I continue, I start to relax and it looks like I've gone into my own little world as my eyes glaze over and I even manage to smile fondly at the memory.

There's a noticeable change in me when Makato asks his last question. I've gone from aloof and in my own personal daydream, to very aware, serious, cold, and even a little hostile. My voice drops an octave as I say very deliberately, "She was my sole shining star at a time in my life where everything was covered by the night. And I'll destroy anything and anyone, who even thinks about trying to put out her light."

It's so real. So authentic. So perfect that it can't be an act even though wisely no one comments on it. But now I definitely wonder how much of that was an act and how much of that was real, because I don't remember consciously doing any of that. It's a good thing I am going to die in the arena, because I can imagine that Toya is certainly not happy about the fact that it looks like his best friend's feelings for his sister are more than platonic.

When the interviews are done and the anthem plays, the televisions blacks out and a hush falls over the room. This is it. Tomorrow is the start of the Magic Games. By this time tomorrow, Sakura and I will be in the arena fight to make her this year's winner. Suddenly, this task seems more daunting that it has been the last few days. The last few days, there was always something else to get through first, but now there's nothing. Just the games.

Now is the time for final good-byes, because tomorrow morning only Sakura and I with Tomoyo and Demetrius will travel to this year's Magic Games Arena.

Sonomi takes us both by the hands and with tears in her eyes, she wishes us luck and congratulates us. We've been the best tributes that she's had so far to sponsor, and I can't disagree with that. Most of the past tributes from District Twelve aren't as lucky as Sakura and I.

Then she kisses Sakura on the cheek and pats me on the shoulder because she knows better than to be that affectionate towards me and leaves the room. A part of me is actually going to miss her.

Clow is next.

"Any last advice?" I ask.

"When the gong sounds, run away from the Cornucopia. The only thing happening there at the beginning of the games is a blood bath that you don't want to risk getting involved it. Put as much distance between yourselves and everyone else as you can and find water."

"After that?" I ask.

"Stay alive," Clow says. "You can use magic to help you do that. But I should warn you, magic takes an awesome amount of energy for unpracticed magic users like yourselves. So use magic to survive and if you can get your hands on a weapon, use those to fight and kill."

Sakura flinches a little at Clow's last words, but I nod. I'm the one who will be doing that part.

There's nothing else to say, so we head back to our own rooms. I carelessly toss my outfit into a random corner of the room and take a shower to get rid of whatever my prep team put on me to make me glow. Then I throw on some clothes for bed and lie down with the intention of actually going to sleep tonight because I know I'll need all the rest I can get before going into the games tomorrow.

After about an hour, I decide to give up trying to sleep and just lie on my bed staring at the ceiling. Every arena is always something different, always something that makes things dangerous for the tributes, but not so that we'll be killed off too quickly. They want the games to last as long as possible, so I'm not worried about being dropped into a barren or frozen wasteland. That would make everything too quick.

I sigh as another hour passes. I need to get some sleep, but just as I'm about to try, my door opens. I don't need to look to know that it's Sakura. Not only is she the only person that would come in here at this time, but over the last few days of being free to practice my magic, I've become very aware of her magical aura, her presence in general. This will come in handy if we're separated in the games.

"Can I… Do you mind if I stay here with you?" she asks.

My reply is to move over so that she can lie next to me. When she does, she's facing me, even though I'm still staring at the ceiling. I don't know why she's looking at me, because there's no doubt she is. I can feel her eyes on me, but I don't tell her to stop. The Magic Games are a few short hours away and if I'm nervous, I know she's scared to death even if she won't show it.

Finally I say, "You should go to sleep. You probably won't get much rest after tonight."

"You should take your own advice," she says and I can practically hear her smile.

I smile slightly and say, "I've been trying."

She's silent, but I feel the slight vibrations of movement, so I look at her to see what she's doing. She's playing with that necklace again. Now that everything has calmed down, I can ask her about it.

"What is that?" I ask.

She holds up the star key to confirm what I'm asking about and when I nod, she says, "Toya gave it to me as my district token. He says he found it one day, he doesn't remember where. He was going to sell it to get some extra money but never got around to it. He happened to be carrying it at the reaping and decided to give it to me. It's pretty, isn't it?"

"Unique," I say still looking at it. Then I add, "I feel like I've seen it before."

Sakura shrugs. "Toya kept it all this time, so you've probably seen it around the house."

I shake my head. "No, I mean…"

I realize how stupid my comment will be and decide against saying it, but Sakura seems to want to know.

"I mean I feel like I've seen it before all this, before I can even remember, from a time I'm not supposed to remember."

"Before we found you?"

"Before that even," I admit.

"Like… Like another life?"

I don't reply. I hadn't really thought about it like that, and to be honest I think it's ridiculous. When I say as much, Sakura shrugs.

"Maybe. But even since we were reaped, I feel like I've met people because I'm supposed to meet them. Like I already knew them. Like part of me was missing them, and I didn't know it."

I don't say anything, not because it's ridiculous, but because I know how she feels. I had been contemplating the same thing earlier when Tomoyo was getting me ready for the interviews.

"Maybe we have met before," Sakura says.

"That's crazy," I say.

"The star sorceress and her guardians are reincarnated every few thousand years, so why can't everyone else."

"It's just a legend, Sakura," I remind.

"It came from somewhere," Sakura deadpans.

"You need to go to sleep," I say.

Sakura sighs and closes her eyes this time. It's not long before her steady breathing alerts me that she's taken my advice. Eventually, I'm able to stop thinking long enough to go to sleep too, but even though it's restful, I have strange dreams. Like memories from another lifetime.

* * *

**AN: **It took forever to get those interviews how I wanted and even now, I'm not sure. In the _The Hunger Games_ each interview is three minutes long and found myself reading Yue's out loud and timing it because I thought it was too long, but I really enjoyed writing this.

So the next chapter is the games and that's where things not only deviate a lot from the book but get even more interesting.

At the risk of sounding like some of those review junkies I know who won't post a chapter unless they get enough reviews, just a note that reviews make me want to update faster and not just when I get around to it. So if you're reading this story and you enjoyed it (or even if it appalled you) please leave a review.


	10. Chapter 10

**10**

When Tomoyo wakes me up the next morning, the first thing I notice is that Sakura is already gone. I probably won't see her until we're in the arena. Then I remember the strange dreams I had the night before, but as the Magic Games is now looming upon me, I push them out my head.

Tomoyo gives me a shift to wear and then guides me to the roof. It's windy and a little cold, but that doesn't concern me. A hovercraft appears out of thin air and drops a ladder drops down. As soon as I place my hands and feet on it, some kind of electric current freezes me into place. The Capitol wouldn't want their tributes to die before the games even began. Once I'm inside, I'm not released until after a woman in a white coat comes to me with large syringe and says while putting it into my arm, "This is your tracker."

I feel a sharp stab of pain as the tracker is put in my forearm, but I don't even flinch. Finally, the ladder releases me and then Tomoyo is brought up on the same ladder. We're taken to a room where breakfast is laid out for us and at first, I only drink the coffee. But Tomoyo insist that I eat as much as I can before going into the arena. As I eat, I stare out the window.

It's a silly desire, but I've always wanted to be able to fly. Somehow, I feel like I belong in the sky, like I'm supposed to spend a lot of my time up here. I spend the entire ride staring out the window and periodically eating something from the large breakfast we've been given. I don't even know how long we've been flying when the windows go dark, signaling we're approaching the arena.

When the hovercraft lands, Tomoyo and I go back to the ladder and it takes us underground, into the catacombs beneath the arena. Then we follow the directions to my preparation chamber. In the Capitol, they call it the Launch Room. In the districts, it's referred to as the Stockyard, the place animals go before slaughter.

I'll be the first and only tribute to use this Launch room. After the games, the arenas become historic sites. The people of the Capitol are allowed to tour it and they are popular vacation destinations where they can rewatch the games, visit the sites where deaths took place and even reenact them.

I have to push these thoughts out of my head as I shower and prepare to go into the arena, less I make myself angry and a generally unpleasant person to be around. There will be enough to worry about in the arena without my temper getting in the way.

While we wait for my clothes to arrive, Tomoyo pulls my hair back into a ponytail and then braids the bottom end of it and secures it with a short piece of string. There are rules regarding what tribute uses to tie their hair in the games. Nothing that can potentially be used as a weapon, so I imagine Tomoyo's been thinking about how she would tie my hair back and out of the way since I got here.

The clothes arrive. They are the same for every tribute and even Tomoyo doesn't know what will be in the package as she has no say in the outfit, but she helps me dress anyway. The outfit consists of tawny pants, a light green shirt, sturdy brown belt, and thin, hooded black jacket that falls to my thighs.

"The material in the jacket's designed to reflect body heat. Expect some cool nights," Tomoyo says quietly. It's odd, because even though Tomoyo has a soft voice, she's never said anything quietly. She's about as somber as I am right now.

She hand me my boots and I put them on over knee high skintight socks. When I'm done, she makes sure my earring, my district token, is secure.

"Does everything fit?" she asks. "Are you comfortable?"

Everything fits, but I'm not comfortable. I don't feel like myself. I felt more like myself when I was wearing her elaborate costumes. They were flashy and drew attention, but she designed them with me in mind.

"Everything's fine," I say finally.

All that's left to do after that is wait. We don't say anything for a long time. Then Tomoyo says, "Are you okay, Yue?"

I resist the urge to say something sarcastic in reply. Tomoyo has been nothing except helpful these last few days. Thus, I don't say anything.

Tomoyo reaches over to grab my hand. Normally, I'd move my hand out of reach, but this time I allow her. Though I'll never admit it aloud, her silent support calms me. It's only a few minutes later that a female voice announces that it's almost time to launch.

Tomoyo and I stand and walk over to a circular metal plate. I stand on it and let Tomoyo's hand go.

"Good luck Yue," she whispers. "It was nice meeting you. If things were different and I could bet, I'd put my money on you coming back."

I manage to give a small smile, a farewell token. She smiles back and then a glass cylinder lowers around me. Then, I begin to rise. For a while, I'm encased in darkness, and momentarily, my heart starts to thud in my chest at how confined I am. Then, I'm being lifted out the cylinder and outside. My eyes have to adjust to the bright light of the sun and I shield my eyes to give them a chance to adjust before putting my hand down again. Then I hear it, the announcement I've been waiting for since I was reaped.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Let the seventy-fourth annual Magic Games begin!"

* * *

In the sixty seconds that we're required to wait for the gong to go off, I assess my surroundings. The first thing I do is find Sakura who is about five tributes down from me. She meets my eyes and shakes her head just slightly, but I ignore her and turn to look at the Cornucopia. I'm pretty sure Clow has already factored in my hardheadedness and knows I have no intention of taking his advice and running away from the blood bath, at least not immediately. While I could probably survive a few days with no supplies, Sakura is more fragile than that and if I'm going to keep her alive, I at least need to get one of the large backpacks filled with supplies.

The best stuff is at the mouth of the Cornucopia, but it's too risky for me to go in there, especially when I have no alliances. So I start to divert my attention to the outer perimeter of the Cornucopia, but before I can, my eyes catch something gleaming at the mouth of the Cornucopia. There, resting on a mound of blanket rolls, is a silver sheath of arrows and a bow, already strung. It's a straight shot from here. I could sprint there, grab it and be far away from the Cornucopia before anyone could attack me.

Somehow I meet Sakura's eyes again and she is shaking her head slightly. I simply nod my head back slightly, toward the woods.

I can sense she's annoyed at my stubbornness, even from this far away, but I can also sense that she plans to do what I say.

The gong sounds.

Even though I want to make a run for the bow and arrows, instinctively I glance over to where Sakura was to make sure she's running as far away as she can. She is, but in the few seconds I've taken to make sure of this I've lost any chance that I might have had to get my weapon of choice, but I can still get something.

I grab a sheet of plastic and some type of rations first and then sprint forward and grab a large backpack. I just grab it before another tribute gets to it. Satisfied with this bounty for now, I start to make my way in the opposite direction. I hear something cut the wind and look back to see the tribute I managed to snatch the backpack from, falling forward, coughing up blood as he does so. When he falls, Ruby comes into view.

"Damn it," I mutter and run faster.

I'm not prepared to deal with Ruby right now. Even if I wanted to, I'm not stupid enough to try with the rest of the careers so close by to help her. I sense that a knife is being thrown at me before I ever hear the whistle of the blade coming toward me. I change the direction of my run and the knife just misses me. It lands just outside the woods and I run towards it, pick it up and keep running towards the woods. Ruby's not going to follow me. She's not going to miss the blood bath to come after me. Right now, my most primary concern is finding Sakura.

She couldn't have gotten far, but I've learned from experience that Sakura is good at concealing herself in small spaces when she doesn't want to be found. It would be stupid to call her name in the midst of all this. It would attract people right to us.

As I slow to a stop to come up with a way to find her, I mentally berate myself. I should have talked with her about a way to find each other in the case that we were separated.

Then, I remember something I said in my interview. I called her a beacon, a light shining in the darkness or something like that. I've never tried it before because I've never had to, but maybe I can find her with more ease than I thought, particularly if she's not far, if I can sense her magical aura. Undoubtedly, she's doing the same to find me. She said herself that my magic attracts her to me. Maybe not in as many words, but it's not a stretch.

Sakura's no doubt better at this than I am now that I think about it. I've always wondered how she's been able to find me so easily when I'm in the woods back home. If I stay in one spot, she'll probably find me before I find her.

It doesn't take long. Slowly but surely, I sense her vibrant presence coming towards me and decide to move towards it.

When she sees me, her eyes light up with relief. She runs toward me and throws her arms around me.

"Yue!" she says.

"Be quiet," I say, not bothering to try to get her off me. She doesn't seem to want to let me go. "Someone will hear us."

When she finally lets go, I look her over once and say, "You okay?"

She nods and then asks, "Are you?"

"Peachy," I reply dryly, already feeling frustration begin to bubble inside me. I brush it off and say, "Come on."

She follows without protest and we continue to walk, putting as much distance between us and the Cornucopia as possible. Sakura practically has to jog to keep up with my longer strides, so every now and then I slow down so she can get a rest before speeding up again.

Somewhere along the way we hear the canons that signal the death of a tribute. Because there are so many deaths in the first part of the games, they usually wait until after the fighting has stopped to shoot off the cannons in the first day. I don't bother to stop, but I do count the number of cannons that go off.

Ten. That means fourteen left to play. Twelve for me to ensure die, thirteen if I include myself, but that will be at the end.

As we continue to walk, I'm aware of the need to find water as soon as we can. While I can go much longer than most people without it, Sakura probably won't last more than a few days without it and I can tell the exertion without water is already starting to take its toll on her. I decide after a few hours to stop. It's not likely anyone is following us right now.

Sakura slumps down against a tree in relief, and I sit next to her to. I sit the knife I picked up earlier down next to me and open the backpack to see what's inside. There's a thin black sleeping bag that reflects body heat, crackers, a pack of dried beef strips, a bottle of iodine, matches, small wire, a pair of sunglasses, and an empty half-gallon plastic bottle with a cap. I'm so concerned about the fact that this last item is empty that I forget to check to see if there's anything else. Sakura takes the bag from me and peeks inside it. Then she gasps and reaches inside to take something out of it.

"What's that?" I ask.

She holds them out to me and I raise an eyebrow, unsure of why she's so excited about it. It doesn't look like anything to me except three marbles.

"Weapons that were developed way before the Magea existed. They disrupt the flow of a person's magic," Sakura replies.

"How?" I asks.

"It damages a person's connection to magic. Kind of like damaging a bridge. Oddly enough, it's activated by magic and affects anyone in a certain radius to it."

Which mean it disrupts the user's magic too.

"How long does it last?"

Sakura shrugs. "Depends on the person."

"When did you learn about those?"

"After you got kicked out of training the first day," she says.

The Capitol probably liked that comment and are now abuzz with how I got kicked out of training if they don't already know. I take the marbles from her and inspect them before giving her two of them and keeping one for myself. They'll come in handy if I run into Ruby, but only if I'm desperate and only if I have another weapon because they'll disturb my magic too.

As I pack everything back into the bag, I ask Sakura something I should have asked before we got in here.

"What else did you learn about magic?"

"Um… I'm good at all types of magic. Ying and yang that is," she admits.

"That's more than me," I say. "I'm only good at yin magic."

"That's more than everyone else," Sakura says. "But that only matters when trying to control forces of nature. Anyone can do basic spells if they have enough magic to do so."

"Really?" I say as we begin walking again. I know Sakura's still tired, but the careers undoubtedly have all the supplies they need, which means they'll probably be going through the night looking for tributes and I want to be as far away from them as I can before night falls.

Sakura nods. "And I learned all the basic spells for survival that Clow told me to learn, like how to conjure fire, water. I can even make a basic shield."

I stop and look at her. "You can conjure water?" I ask.

She nods.

"How much of it?" I ask.

"I can fill up that bottle in that bag," she says.

"Does it take a lot of energy?" I ask, remembering what Clow said about magic being a tiring thing for people not used to using it.

"Not if I get it out of a tree or something," Sakura says.

I can't help scowling at her. "Is there anything else you want to tell me that you can do with magic to make all this easier on us."

Sakura blushes and then shrugs. "I thought you knew."

It only takes me a second to rework my plan for the games. I've been so focused on protecting Sakura that I hadn't really given much thought to what she could contribute to make my task easier besides not making any friends, which she has failed at spectacularly.

"Then all that survival stuff Clow was talking about we can do with magic is your job. That way I can save my energy for dealing with any tributes we might come across," I say.

Sakura nods and we continue to walk. Soon though, night is upon us and though I'd like to go farther, I can only hope that we've walked far enough so that the careers won't find us.

"Where are we going to sleep?"

I shrug. "Probably in a tree or something."

Sakura frowns. "You know I can't climb trees."

"You will if you don't want the careers to see us," I deadpan.

She's silent after that, but only because she doesn't have a response. Somehow, I know she's not offended or hurt by my comment. Before we settle down, I give her the empty jug from the back pack and she touches a few random trees, shaking her head sometimes, before finally settling on one.

Sakura puts her hand on it and her hand glows pink for a moment before she draws her hand back and a bluish glowing orb follows. She directs it toward the opening of the jug until the jug is filled with blue glowing magic. Then the glow disappears and left in its place is water. Sakura turns to me, very pleased with herself if her grin is an indication.

"Is it safe to drink?" I ask.

"I don't know," she admits.

I reach into the backpack and take out the iodine. Then I drop a couple of drops into the water, cap the jug and we continue on our way to find a tree for Sakura to sleep in, because I know I probably won't be getting any sleep tonight.

"Does up there work?" I ask Sakura.

"You're the tree climber. You tell me," she says.

"I am not a tree climber," I reply.

"Then why are you always in one?" she asks.

"I like heights," I say, although that's only partially the truth. The full truth is that being high up in trees is the closest thing I can get to being in the sky on my own. But that's not something I want to share on national television. I've already got to act like I'm in love with Sakura and don't know it or something along those lines. My secret desire to fly is something I'm keeping to myself.

Although I'm more comfortable higher, I settle us not too far off the ground for Sakura's sake. Not only do I have to help her climb up, I'll undoubtedly have to help her climb back down so the closer to the ground we can be, the better.

I give Sakura the sleeping bag and once she's settled inside, I toss her the water and some of the rations I managed to get earlier. Then I hang the backpack on a short but sturdy branch above us and settle on the other side of the tree.

"What about you?" Sakura asks.

"What about me?" I reply.

"Aren't you thirsty? Or hungry?"

"Not really," I say and that's a bit of a lie. I'm already starting to feel a twinge of thirst, although it's probably nowhere near as bad as Sakura was feeling. But I'll be fine in the morning since we aren't walking anymore.

"Liar," Sakura says and the next thing I know, the water jug is being tossed in my lap. I turn to look back at her, but she's already settling into her sleeping bag. As she does so, she says, "I'm done. Besides, you're already going to be up all night, in the cold."

Sakura forgets I have a higher tolerance for the cold weather. It's the heat that gets to me, but I don't remind her. Instead I keep the water, but only to sip on it.

Soon enough the anthem plays and I look up to the sky to see find out who has died today. One of the tributes from three, both from 5 and 6, one from 8, 9, and 10, and both from eleven.

That leaves all the careers and a couple of others, including Kero and Chiharu, which Sakura doesn't neglect to remind me of. I resist the urge to snap at her that I know and that I wish they had been killed so that I don't have to deal with them later. As it is, I still might not have to. The careers are no doubt on the hunt for the rest of the tributes and it's only a matter of time.

Soon, I hear Sakura's steady breathing which signals that she has fallen asleep and I keep watch. The careers aren't the only thing to look out for. The Gamemakes are notorious for releasing dangerous magical creatures into the arena at night. I'm not disappointed. An unsettling fog settles and with it the temperature drops sharply. The fog is thin, so I can still see, but the average person would have trouble. Toya always teased me that I have eyes like a cat.

I stand up on my branch and look to the ground. Something is gliding on the ground and thankfully, it's not looking up into the trees, so I don't bother waking up Sakura just in case we have to run. But I do look at the creature. It's wearing a long black cloak, closed together with a black tie. It's also wearing a hood and when it goes around our tree to turn back the other way, I seek a white mask covering its face and I'm glad for it. Something tells me I don't want to see what's under it.

As it leaves, the fog goes with it and I sit back down, staring into the darkness after where it disappeared to. Not long after, I hear a load beastly growl and the scream of a female tribute.

"What was that?"

I glance at Sakura, trying to hide how nervous I really am as I say, "It's okay."

"But-"

"Go back to sleep," I say, trying to ignore the screams as they continue. Then there is silence, closely followed by the shooting of a canon.

I'll give Sakura an hour or two more to sleep, but obviously I was right in my assumption that there's more in these woods to worry about than just the career pack. One thing's for sure, I'm not comfortable staying in the woods longer than I have to. I determine that tomorrow, Sakura and I will explore the rest of the arena to see what else it has to offer, because I have no idea what that creature was and I have no intention to find out.

* * *

**AN: **Yay! The Magic Games have begun. Honestly, not much happens in this chapter, but in the next chapter things really start to get interesting.

In other news, I go back to school tomorrow for my final semester in college. While I'm glad this is the last semester, it still doesn't make me want to go back. But oh well.

At the risk of sounding like some of those review junkies I know who won't post a chapter unless they get enough reviews, just a note that reviews make me want to update faster and not just when I get around to it. So if you're reading this story and you enjoyed it (or even if it appalled you) please leave a review.


	11. Chapter 11

**11**

The next morning, I want to set out immediately, but Sakura convinces me that we should take a couple of hours to fill up on water so that we don't have to stop again later. I agree, even though staying in one spot is making me a little antsy. The careers are no doubt on the move and if we stay here, that gives them a better chance of catching us.

When we finally do start moving, the sun has been up for three hours and though we have enough water, I'm hoping we can find a water source so that I can catch a fish or two. While we have the rations and the crackers, I'm not eager to use up those supplies yet. I'd like to wait until we're desperate and hopefully, we won't get that desperate.

"Where are we headed?" Sakura asks.

"Out of the woods."

"Why?"

I don't want to tell her about the creature I saw last night and that I'm certain that there's more than one waiting for night to fall again to attack another unsuspecting tribute. So I say, "We just need to keep moving is all."

I don't know if she believes me or not, but Sakura doesn't argue with me as we continue to walk. Eventually, the woods start to thin out and then come to an end completely so that we are standing at the foot of a rocky mountain.

There have been mountains in the games before. I heard that one of the arenas had a mountain that was an active volcano, but rarely do the gamemakers use the same trick twice. Otherwise, the games would become boring. Besides, there's bound to be some kind of water at the top of the mountain and maybe even some kind of vegetation. Deciding it's a risk we can safely take, I start up the slope. Sakura, however, doesn't move.

"What's wrong?" I ask glancing back at her.

She's fiddling with her necklace again when she says, "I don't know. I just… There's a lot of magic on this mountain."

That's true, but that doesn't necessarily bother me. The arenas are built with the help of magic and anything this massive is bound to have pockets of strong concentrations of magic.

"So?"

"I just have a bad feeling about this," Sakura says.

I want to dismiss her, but Sakura rarely lets fear get in the way of her doing anything, so I have to consider what she's worried about. We could go back into the woods, but not only is there that creature to worry about, I'm positive the woods are the first place the careers will be doing their hunting. No doubt if we go back, we'll eventually run into them and while I know I can't run away from them forever, I'm not quite ready to face them yet.

"It will be fine," I say.

Sakura hesitates, but follows me onto the mountain anyway. It's much cooler on top of the mountain than it was in the woods and while it makes it easier for both Sakura and I to save our energy and water, I can't help but worry that it will be much more colder if we spend the night here.

We definitely don't cover as much ground as we did the day before being that the terrain of the mountain slows us down and sometimes we have to climb over rocks and sleep slopes, but one thing I'm sure of is that we'll at least be out of the reach of the careers for tonight and hopefully, that creature I saw the other night is something that's confined to the woods.

The next plateau is a large flat bed of land with a small lake and even some wild vegetation surrounding it. Though we've probably only covered less than half the ground we covered the previous day and it's not getting dark yet, I decide that this is where we'll rest for the day.

Sakura gets to work purifying more water and starting a fire while I go to the edge of the lake to hopefully catch a fish. The wire that we got will help that.

As I dig through the mud at the bank of the lake to find some kind of bait, Sakura comes to sit next to me. She doesn't say anything and while if we weren't in the arena, her silent, unneeded presence would bother me, I can't find myself to be bothered. While I'm naturally an anti-social being and don't mind being and even prefer to be alone, Sakura has always been a social being. Right now, I'm the only one she has to be social with. So I can meet her halfway. She can sit there if she feels the need to be close to someone, and I won't push her away so long as she doesn't disrupt the easy serene atmosphere we've been granted for the time being. We may as well appreciate it while it lasts, because other than the creature that came through the previous night, things have been too calm for Sakura and I so far, too easy. The Gamemakers won't let it stay that way for long.

However, Sakura's never been particularly comfortable with this kind of silence, this tense silence where we're both waiting for something to happen. So unsurprisingly she breaks the silence after about half an hour or so.

"What was that creature last night?" Sakura asks.

I am not surprised that she's aware of the existence of the creature I saw last night. I was simply hoping that she hadn't noticed, but Sakura proves as observant as always. There's no point trying to hide it from her so I say, "I don't know."

"It killed that tribute last night. That was the screaming I heard."

"Probably," I answer.

Sakura sighs, and I sense that she's annoyed with me. I also sense that she's about to make me aware of the reason, and I have a feeling I'm not going to like what comes out her mouth. The last time I sensed this type of annoyance from her was when Clow was helping us with our interview angle, but whatever she was annoyed about then wasn't important enough for her to want to vocalize. I have a feeling that she feels this current issue is. She opens her mouth to say something, but I raise my hand and point to my makeshift fishing line.

"You'll scare the fish," I say.

Sakura closes her mouth and huffs, before standing up and going back over to the fire. Whatever it is that's bothering her, I know she hasn't let it go, and I'm going to hear about it later.

Sakura doesn't disappoint.

The fish is roasting over the fire now and without the threat of scaring away dinner, or even the threat of another tribute coming after us, she says, "Why didn't you tell me about that thing last night?"

I continue to stare at the fire as I say, "What does it matter? You saw them."

"But you were hoping I hadn't."

I don't need to answer her. She already knows, but that doesn't satisfy her.

"Could you answer me?"

"You've already draw a conclusion. Why?"

"Because being my so-called guardian angel in here doesn't mean I'm so fragile that I can't know what dangers are in here."

"Sometimes you act like," I reply.

"Only because you've never given me the chance to prove I'm not," Sakura snaps and then continues, "Every time you thought I was even remotely in danger, you've been there. Even before my dad died."

Now she's exaggerating. I'll admit to being a little over protective after her dad died because I was the only one who could look after her, but before?

"No I haven't."

Sakura laughs. "During the winter, right before I turned five, I used to slip on the ice on the way to school, but you always steadied me. One day, I slipped and you weren't fast enough to catch me and I sprained my ankle. You carried me on your back to and from school whenever there was ice until I was eight and I was coordinated enough not to slip on it as often."

"That's one instance," I say, but I have a feeling Sakura's not done.

"When I was six and had that bad fever, you stayed up all night watching me to make sure I was breathing even when my dad and Toya had fallen asleep. I remember because you kept rinsing out the cloth on my forehead every time it got too hot," Sakura says.

I'm reluctantly starting to see Sakura's point,

"You stood up to a peacekeeper when I was eight and made him apologize to me because he knocked me over while I was staring at a doll in one of the shop windows in town," Sakura says to drive the point home. "I can't remember a time when I was in trouble and you weren't somehow there."

I don't remember all these instances, but apparently Sakura's been keeping a tally. Her point is clear. She may be naturally innocent and unaware in some respects, but I've clearly contributed to that innocence. If she's at all unaware of some of the dangers in the world—and clearly she's not as unaware as I thought—it's because I've constantly been present to shield her from them.

I'm not sure how to feel about that, and I'm sure Sakura can tell somehow because she sighs and crawls over to sit next to me.

"Don't feel bad about it," she mutters. "Sometimes it's frustrating, but I'm glad I can count on you to protect me if I need it. But while trying to keep me oblivious might help back home, there's no point here. It's the Magic Games. I know it's not safe. If anything, you trying to make me think otherwise makes your job harder. If you don't tell me what I'm in danger from, I'm going to think you're being paranoid. And it's going to annoy me."

"Like now?" I ask dryly.

Sakura giggles. "Like now," she agrees. Then she adds, "This doesn't have to be all on you. Let me help where I can… or at least where you willing to let me."

"You make all of this seem so simple," I say.

"It is," she says. Upon seeing me frown, she rolls her eyes and says, "Smile a little, Yue."

I can't, not even for her. We don't talk anymore as we eat our dinner. Then we stomp out the fire before it gets totally dark and gives away our location. When night does fall, just like I predicted, the temperature drops and even I'm bothered by the chill. Sakura hurriedly crawls into the sleeping bag, even though she doesn't appear to be tired. Then, when even that isn't warm enough, she crawls over to the remains of our fire and gathers some of the still hot rocks in her jacket. She mutters a spell, two spells actually. The second makes the rocks glow red. When the glow fades, she finds an opening in the lining of the sleeping bag and puts the rocks inside. Then she settles back inside the sleeping bag.

"There's room in here," she says.

I turn to look at her, but her back is turned to me.

"Room where?" I ask.

"To share the sleeping back," she says. "It's cold even for you out here."

"I'll be fine," I say, but it seems that that the universe wants to proof me wrong because the wind blows and causes me to shiver, which Sakura, who has turned to look at me, notices.

"If you don't come over here, I won't use the sleeping bag either and we'll both be cold," Sakura says. Her expression is fixed in a determined expression that tells me she's not taking no for an answer. If I let this continue, we'll go back and forth about this all night.

Then Sakura says, "I'm not telling you to go to sleep or anything. Just that you should stay warm too. I enchanted those rocks to stay warm and to not feel like rocks. That way it's warm and comfortable."

She's obviously thought this through enough that she's already come up with a halfway point for us to come to an agreement. Thus, I sigh and crawl into the sleeping bag with her. It takes a little adjusting, but eventually, I simply lie on my back while Sakura, who's shorter than the actual sleeping bag, uses my upper body as a pillow. She falls asleep right before the anthem plays and besides the girl who died this morning from District Nine, no other tribute lights up the sky.

It's warm in the sleeping bag, between the reflective material, Sakura's heat rocks, and her body practically lying on top of mine. My eyes start to feel heavy, but I fight the need to go to sleep. At some point though, I must fall asleep, because when I open my eyes again, the sun is starting to rise.

The first thing I notice is that Sakura is no longer in the sleeping bag, so I sit up to look for her.

She's up and gathering the contents of our back pack. She seems like she's in a rush.

"What are you doing?"

"I figured you want to set out early today," she says.

I raise an eyebrow at this.

"Not really," I say. "I figured we could stay here a few days."

The truth is I had no intention of staying here a few days, even though I did figure we could afford to not set out so soon. I just want to see Sakura's reaction.

She doesn't stop what she's doing and continues to gather our things. Then she hands me the water jug.

"We can leave after you're done with that," she says.

I take the jug and get from under the sleeping bag. As I sip on the water, Sakura goes to work packing up the sleeping bag. She's so focused on it that she doesn't notice the strange look I'm giving her. Why is she acting so weird? Why is she in such a rush? She's usually not this assertive. It's like she's aware of some danger that I'm not. It doesn't take me long to figure out why she's in such a rush.

For some reason, she wants to get off the mountain.

"You done?" she asks

I'm not, but I can drink more water later. I let Sakura prepare another water bottle and then we're set off for the day. This time, we're headed down the other side of the mountain. We haven't even been walking an hour when I sense whatever it is that Sakura's been sensing all morning. There's danger on this mountain and of the magical variety.

No sooner than I realize this does the ground start to shake and suddenly spiky rocks are shooting out the ground in a line heading quickly towards us. Sakura screams as I yank us both out of the way, but another spike rises between us and throws us in opposite directions.

"Sakura," I yell.

"Yue! It's a spirit!" Sakura shouts back, though I don't know where from because by now, dirt and rocks are falling all around us.

A spirit. That was something I had forgotten to be prepared for.

The arenas are built with the help of technological power in conjunction with a lot of magic. With so much magic concentrated in one area, it's no surprise that spirits show up in the arenas without anyone summoning them. There's a spirit for just about everything a person can name, and I'm willing to bet that there's even a spirit for disguise or glamour or something of that nature lurking in the Capitol with all the surgeries and mutations there. In the arena, elemental spirits like this one are common. Many of them are harmless and if you have enough magic to attract one to you, they can be helpful in the games even. But others, like this one, are much more aggressive and the only way to get rid of it is to beat it or get away from it.

What makes this worse is that even if I were powerful enough, earth magic falls under the yang sign, which means I would have little to no ability to gain some kind of control over it.

"Do you have a spell for this?" I shout, hoping Sakura can hear me.

"It's too powerf—ah!" Sakura's sentence is cut off by her scream.

"Sakura!"

Either she didn't answer or I didn't hear her. Either way, a large rock has been launched my way and I scramble out the way, but in the process slip on some rocks and land painfully on my shoulder. I roll onto my back and wince as my shoulder throbs. I cough as dirt begins to cloud the air, but even so, I can see that the spirit has appeared in its physical form, a large serpentine dragon made of earth, and it has set its sights on Sakura. It must not see me as a threat anymore because I've fallen, so its attention isn't on me.

I've probably got less than five seconds to come up with a way to distract that thing before it either attacks Sakura or realizes that I'm awake. I feel the knife that I swiped from Ruby on my belt. It's probably pointless, but it's better than nothing. I throw it, somehow managing to keep my wrist and arm straight so that it cuts strait through the air and embeds itself into the body of the spirit.

Though it doesn't appear to be hurt, the earth spirit cries out in frustration and its attention is effectively deterred from Sakura as it begins to turns towards me. Before it can fully turn to me though, I dart around it and pick Sakura up off the ground. She already seems to know what I'm thinking and we waste no time running down the mountain, jumping down short ledges that we normally might have taken our time climbing down if it weren't for an earth spirit chasing us.

It catches up quickly and disrupts the ground beneath us so that we both roll down the mountain and onto a plateau of land. We're not too far from the bottom of the mountain now and I can see the woods below

Sakura lands a few feet away from me, but I'm not given a chance to see if she's okay because the earth spirit appears in its physical form in front of me again. It's angry at me for before. Again, I try to think of something I can use to attack it, but I don't come up with anything before a shower of rocks and dirt rain on me. I try to get out of the way, but only succeed in falling off the plateau and rolling down a slope until I'm near the base of the mountain.

I think I've hit my head, because my vision is blurry and I can vaguely hear Sakura from wherever she is still on top of the mountain.

"Yue, get up! It's coming!"

I'm aware of that, but even as I struggle to my feet, I can't think of a way to stop it. Thankfully, I don't have to. Something, I'm not sure exactly what, comes out the woods from behind me. I can't get a good look of it because of all the debris in the air, but whatever it is has managed to restrict the movements and power of the earth spirit. That's not to say that the earth spirit doesn't put up a fight, but after a while it has no choice. It's effectively trapped.

When the dust clears, I see that the body of the earth spirit has been wrapped and constricted in a bunch of wood and branches. The only thing I can think of that might have been able to do this is another spirit. What spirit? I'm not sure.

Regardless of how trapped it is though, I want nothing more than to get as far away from it as possible. I look towards the mountain, trying to see where Sakura is. I start to shout out to here, but then I hear the sound of heavy footsteps approaching from around the curve of the base of the mountain. By now Sakura is peering over the edge of the mountain at me, but I shake my head as a way to warn her to stay where she is while I back towards the edge of the woods, hoping I can conceal myself inside it without making too much of a fuss.

It's too late though and from around the curve of the base of the mountain comes the source of the footsteps.

The careers.

* * *

**AN: **So basically, if any of my readers have read _The Hunger Games_, this is where things start to really branch off and I start to incorporate aspects and tidbits from the _Cardcaptor Sakura_ into the arena. Hope you enjoyed.

At the risk of sounding like some of those review junkies I know who won't post a chapter unless they get enough reviews, just a note that reviews make me want to update faster and not just when I get around to it. So if you're reading this story and you enjoyed it (or even if it appalled you) please leave a review.


	12. Chapter 12

**12**

Damn it.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

"Well, well, well," Ruby says when she spots me. "Look who we found."

She looks behind me and then all around me before saying, "Where's your little star mistress, Yue?"

I fight to keep my eyes focused on Ruby, rather than glancing up the mountain to where Sakura is. Hopefully, she'll stay where she is.

"I think he lost her," says the boy from District Four. "Some guardian."

The rest of the careers laugh and one of them, the boy from District One raises a spear at me.

"Wait a minute," Ruby says. "I made a promise. And I fully intend on keeping it."

The other careers look confused about what she's talking about, but suddenly I'm glad for our hostile encounter during training because she fully intends to make good on her threat. That buys me some time.

"We'll take him back to camp until we find the girl," Ruby said and nodded for the others to follow her as they approach me.

I run into the woods.

The careers waste no time chasing after me.

The last thing I want to do is leave Sakura by herself, but with the careers chasing after me, the safest place she can be right now is as far away from me as possible. At least until I can get rid of them. Somehow…

I duck in front of tree when I hear the whistle of a knife being hurled at me and when it embeds itself in a tree, I start running again. The woods are ending again, I can tell because the trees are thinning out. I just hope there's not another mountain. There's not. It's even worse.

A large meadow with tall grass and flowers.

Even though the grass is too tall for me to see inside, I can see a large tall tree in the middle of the meadow. If I can climb it, I can get away from the careers. That's if nothing in the tall grass gets to me first. However, I have no choice. I run towards the tree, knocking grass out the way as I go and hoping that there's nothing inside it to attack me, although, that means it would attack the careers too. As I do so, I can feel my body starting to give out on me. I'm exhausted, my limbs are aching, and there's a painful stabbing in my sides. But I will myself forward. I just have to make it up that tree. I pretty sure the careers have never been in a tree a day in their lives.

I see the tree through the grass, but the lowest limb is pretty high up. I speed up, hoping I can gain enough momentum to make a jump for it. When I'm close enough, I jump and manage to grab onto limb. As I pull myself up, my shoulder throbs painfully in protest, but I ignore it. Once I'm on the limb, I know I'm safe, but I continue to climb. By the time the careers get to me, I'm too high up for them to reach me with their weapons, but that doesn't keep them from trying anyway. I stop on a limb to look at them.

The male tribute from District Four has the bow and arrows. He grabs an arrow and takes aim. His shot is almost as clumsy as Kero's and easily misses me by ten feet.

"Can't you shoot an arrow better than that?" Ruby snaps.

"I'm trying," the boy says. "Can't you get him with your knives?"

Ruby takes a knife off her belt and throws it as hard and as high as she can. It embeds itself in the tree a few feet below man.

Ruby groans. "He's too high," she says and snatches the bow and an arrow from him.

Ruby's a better shot that the boy from four, but she misses too. She's picked up the two fallen arrows to try again when her district counterpart stops her.

"He has to come down some time," Spinel says.

Ruby lowers the bow and says, "I guess so." Then she turns to the group. "We'll split up. You three," she points to the tributes from four and the girl from one, "Go find the girl. She's can't be too far from here. The rest of us will stay here to watch him."

The three set off and seeing as I'm not going anywhere any time soon, I sit on the branch and lean against the tree trunk. Now that I'm calm, today's events have caught up with me and I feel the overwhelming urge to pass out, but I'm not doing that with the careers below and risk missing the opportunity to escape.

The injury in my shoulder, which I had until this point ignored, begins to throb painfully and I hope it's only sprained or the bone is just cracked, nothing that would have to take setting. My head is also killing me and my vision is still a little blurry, not to mention I have nothing on me that I could possibly use as a weapon. What I do have is the back pack. I had forgotten I was carrying it in my haste to run away from the earth spirit and later to run away from the careers.

I'm suddenly struck by the fact that I've not only left Sakura on her own, but with nothing to help her survive, but I stave off my internal panic. That's not going to help anything. And doing something in rashness could only get me killed. I won't give Ruby that satisfaction.

My heart is racing and I think it might be from a combination of worry and exertion. I take the water bottle out the back pack along with some crackers. May as well.

The day is spent with me staying in the tree trying to figure out how I'm going to get out of this and the careers below me as they try to figure out a way to get me to come down or for me to surrender.

We're at an effective stalemate.

By the end of the day though, I'm starting to get worried. I've heard no cannons today and although that means Sakura's alive and well—maybe not well, but definitely alive—it also means that much hasn't happened today besides this morning's debacle. That means the people of the Capitol may be getting bored. And when thing in the Magic Games start to get boring, the Gamemakers are known to release things into the arena to liven things up. But it's only been a day and perhaps the suspense of seeing what will happen between me and the careers will be enough to keep the Gamemakers from releasing some magical terror into the arena.

By the time the anthem plays, the other careers haven't returned and the remaining careers have set up camp at the bottom of the tree and are dozing off to sleep. I wish I could do the same thing, but I'm too anxious to do so with the careers right below me. Besides, tonight may be the opportunity I need to get away.

For a long time, a couple of hours, I stare at the moon. When we first got here, it was full and now, two nights later, it's still as full as it was when we first got here. It makes me wonder if the moon, the Sun, any of it is real. By now, the moon should be starting to wane.

I'm just about to close my eyes when I see something flying in the sky in the distance. I don't even have to hear them to know what they are. I'd know those silhouettes anywhere. The sharp claws, the messy feathery wings, the wild hair.

Harpies.

There are nests of them in the woods outside of District Twelve and though I've run straight into them before, they never attack me. That's because they like things that shine and glitter and I normally don't have anything like that on me. I close my eyes and chuckle a little. It's a good thing they hadn't come through during the day or else the careers would have been in trouble with all those new shiny and polished weapons sparkling in the sun. No doubt they would have gained the violent beasts attention…

I sit up and open my eyes right away. If I can get the harpies to attack the careers, they'll have no choice but to run and probably drop their weapons too since harpies are relentless when they want something.

But the moonlight isn't strong enough on its own. I need to use something as a reflector to attract their attention. Something like a mirror would be perfect. I wish I had my knife, but I lost it with that earth spirit. Then I remember that Ruby threw a knife at me earlier and it pierced into the tree a few feet below me. Her knife just might work.

I move quickly, despite the fact that my shoulder aches in protest as I put the backpack on my back. Then I quietly climb down to where the knife is. It takes a few tugs, but I manage to pull it out the tree with little effort. The knife is a little dirty, and I clean it with the edge of my shirt as quickly as I can until it's clean enough that I can see my reflection in it. If I had the time, I could do better, but the harpies are fast approaching, and I'll miss my chance if I don't hurry.

The harpies are closer now, and the sound of their cawing is beginning to make the careers stir.

It takes a while of trying to angle the knife just right so that the moonlight not only reflects off the knife but the weapons attached onto the backs and the belts of the careers below. Eventually I catch the right angle, the right ray of moon light, so that the light catches the knife and then bounces back off of it to catch the silver and polished weapons of the careers. It's not a particularly strong shine, but harpies have special eyes that cause anything that can reflects light to stand out to them when they're close to it. So the dim shine that the moonlight bouncing off my knife produces will be more than enough to catch their attention.

"What is District Twelve doing?" I hear Ruby mutter.

The cawing is getting louder and the harpies are getting closer. I glance at the sky to see they're descending right towards me and the careers.

Ruby catches on to what's happening first.

"Oh shit," she mutters jumping to her feet.

She shouts to her other two comrades to get up, but by then it's too late. The harpies are practically on us. I drop my knife and start to climb down the tree. By the time I've made the jump to the ground, about a dozen harpies have swarmed the careers, and I've managed to land in the middle of the fray. But since I have nothing shiny on me, the harpies aren't bothering to attack me, and I move out of the way and start in the opposite direction.

The careers though, are trying in vain to beat off the harpies, but there are too many of them to fight off, especially considering their sharp claws and talons.

"Just drop everything. There are more weapons at the Cornucopia. Come on!" Ruby shouts as she throws all her knives off her belt and any other weapons she may have accumulated.

However, the boy from District One continues to try to fight off a harpy from taking his set of bows and arrows.

"Just drop it!" Ruby commands, already running off with Spinel.

"But they're the only ones in the arena!" he shouts.

Just after he shouts this though, one of the talons of the harpy rips through his chest, snatching out his heart and the harpy takes the bow and roughly attempts to snatch the holster with the arrows off his back. The sound of a cannon follows.

While Ruby and Spinel run off, with three or four harpies still chasing after them, what the now dead District One boy says registers in my head. That bow and arrow set is the only one in the games. One bow and arrow set that, in hind sight and based on its position in the Cornucopia, was clearly meant for me to get my hands on. One that a harpy is about to take off with.

Even though I just witnessed this harpy rip out the heart of the boy from District One, it doesn't deter me from running towards it to fight for the weapon. It's my best shot to make it to the end of the games.

I get to the harpy just as it rips the full quiver off the dead boys back and just as it's about to fly off, I tackle it to the ground. I immediately roll off it and grab for the bow and holster in its claws and talons. The harpy caws loudly at this and I register the sharpness of its beak, but keep pulling, especially because the harpy seems more interested in getting away with its prize than fighting me.

By now, the rest of the harpies have left, but they haven't taken everything that the careers dropped. There's a long spear on the ground next to my foot, and I let go of the bow and quiver to pick it up. Before the harpy can fly off, I stab at it with the spear, piercing it in the wing. It cries out in pain as I yank out the spear.

Now, the harpy isn't going anywhere, but that means it is also going to stick around to fight me.

It charges at me with its free claw, and I stab at it. We both move out the way to dodge each other's attacks. The harpy swipes at me again, and I move again. The bow and the arrow holster are in the right claw of the harpy and all I need is for it to drop it so that I can take them. Thus, I do something that's both risky and incredibly stupid.

I don't completely dodge when the harpy comes at me again. I only move out the way enough not to be cut in half or have my heart snatched out. As a result, the claws graze me in my side. However, now I'm close enough to strike a deadly blow to the harpy.

I cut off its right claw.

The claw, still holding the bow and the arrow holster, falls to the ground and the harpy retreats. Its cries are deafening as it begins to crawl away as I've proven that I'm more trouble that its shiny prize is worth. It's probably going off to die somewhere but I'm pretty sure the rest of its nest hear its cries and will come to try to aid it.

With that in mind, I first drop my backpack and take the holster from the claw, tie the torn straps together, and throw it over my shoulder and replace my backpack. Then, I take the bow. It has a few scratches, but otherwise it's still in perfect condition. I leave the spear, because it's too much to carry with my bow, but I pick up a knife that that the harpies didn't take because it was hidden in the grass and strap it to my belt.

I walk in the opposite direction of where the harpy is crawling and away from where the careers ran. It's dangerous to be traveling at night, but I can't stay here. Besides, now that I have a bow, I can just shoot anything that tries to attack me.

Even though I'm exhausted and the lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me, I can't help but feel a little smug as I make my way through the meadow. If I hadn't proven that I was a contender in the games before, I certainly have now. Even though I'll be dead by the end of all this, Magea will be talking about my fight with that harpy for years. And since I've probably provided the Capitol with a good show, the Gamemakers won't be tempted to release anything dangerous into the arena. For now, I can take a breather and focus on making my way back to Sakura. She wouldn't have stayed on the mountain. She's smart enough to know that she doesn't need to stay in one place. Then again, the mountain had a water source and food, despite the fact that it got cold. Sakura might have been better off staying there.

I'm contemplating going back to the mountain when the world begins move. At first, I think it's the Gamemaker, but then I feel a shooting pain in my left side. I instinctively grab there, and I feel something wet and sticky.

It's blood.

And then I remember that the harpy scratched me with its claw during our fight. In the heat of the fight, I had ignored it, but now that everything is calm, I'm beginning to feel its effects.

Suddenly, I can barely stand, but I can't just fall out in the middle of this tall grass so I will myself to keep walking, even though my balance is off and my vision is blurring. The ground is starting to get muddy, which means there's probably a water source nearby, but considering animals congregate near water sources, that could be a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, I can't walk anymore and I fall over.

I use something hard to my right to steady myself on and I think it must be a large rock. I can't be sure. Not only is it dark, but even with the moonlight lighting my way, everything looks like paint smudges or something. Now it's hard to breathe and all the willpower in the world can't keep me awake now.

I'm unconscious before I can even feel myself hit the ground.

* * *

**AN: **Do you know how long it took me to initially write this chapter?

Forever!

I needed it to be different from the Hunger Games and agonized for hours how I was going to make that happen. Then, it came to me. Something magical and mythical and deadly. Anywho, I'm sorry this is really late, but I had a long day and had to do some things I couldn't get out of. So thanks for your patience and your reviews. Hope you enjoyed.

At the risk of sounding like some of those review junkies I know who won't post a chapter unless they get enough reviews, just a note that reviews make me want to update faster and not just when I get around to it. So if you're reading this story and you enjoyed it (or even if it appalled you) please leave a review.


	13. Chapter 13

**13**

The first thing I try to do when I'm aware—more like partially aware—of the world again is try to sit up. At this point, I haven't even opened my eyes because I feel the heat of the sun beaming down on me.

Two things stop me from sitting up. The first is the pain in my left side and the second is a hand on my chest, my bare chest I notice.

"I wouldn't move if I were you," a voice says.

The voice is female and it's not as soft as Sakura's, but it's definitely much more timid. I know this voice, but right now my head is too fogged with sleep and the pain from my side to remember who it is.

I sigh and lay back down and the person with me lets out a sigh of relief. Obviously, whoever the person is hasn't killed me yet or even simply left me to die, so even though I'm wary, I know I can trust her for now.

My arm is heavy, but I manage to raise it so I can use my hand to shield my eyes as I open them. After blinking a few times, I move my hand and turn to where the voice came from. Her back is turned to me and the first thing I notice is reddish brown hair in two pigtails. But I know who this is now.

Chiharu.

She's at the edge of a small stream, rinsing out what looks like a piece of cloth.

"You're lucky I found you when I did," she says as she makes her way back over to me with the cool damp cloth in hand. "You lost a lot of blood. Most people would have died."

She begins to gently dab at my wound with the cloth. The coolness gives me a little relief from the pain.

"Even after I stitched your cuts up, they kept bleeding, but your mentor sent some kind of salve to stop the bleeding. Still, you shouldn't move around too much yet."

"Stitches," I ask. How'd she manage that one?

"It's like threading cloth… sort of," Chiharu muttered. "There's this grass out here. We have it back in my district. If you tear it the long way, you get little pieces of thread. And I went through your backpack and found that wire. It was thin enough and sharp enough to use as a needle when I cut a piece off. I hope you don't mind."

She saved my life. I hardly mind.

"How long has it been?"

"Two days I think," she says.

That makes me sit up despite the pain in my side and startles Chiharu so much that she leaps back.

"Wait a minute," Chiharu says. "You're going to open your wound again! You need to rest."

"I've rested for two days," I say as I look around for my things, namely my shirt and my jacket. I've missed a lot in all this time. Not only have the careers certainly made it back to the Cornucopia and are no doubt plotting how to get their revenge, Sakura's been without me for two more days.

"Yeah…" Chiharu agrees, but then rushes out. "But still… You haven't eaten anything in that long and even though I did my best to keep you hydrated, you could probably use more water."

"Who's died?" I ask ignoring her.

"The boy from one and one from ten," she says and then adds. "Sakura's okay."

"For now," I say. "Until the careers find her."

"The careers?"

"Yeah. I know they had to go back to their camp to get more weapons and supplies after the harpies attacked but they're probably on the way back now," I say.

Chiharu frowns. "I didn't find you far from here. And it's a day and a half walk from here to the cornucopia. And if they lost all their supplies, it might have taken them longer. We might still be safe. Sakura is probably safe…"

What she says about the careers taking longer to get back to their camp without their supplies stands out to me. The career districts are much more privileged than the other districts. They're used to having things handed to them because they're favored by the capitol for producing some of their favorite luxuries and, in the case of District Two, for staying loyal during the rebellion. They probably haven't experienced starvation a day in their lives. So if they had to make the two day trek to the Cornucopia without their supplies, Chiharu is right. The careers aren't coming back after me any time soon, but that doesn't mean I want to stick around and wait until they do.

I sit back down on the pallet she made for me and it occurs to me that Chiharu said we weren't far from where she found me. That means she moved me from wherever I fell out. The question is how. I take a good look at Chiharu. She's bigger than Sakura, but not by much and she doesn't look as well fed, even though she doesn't look like she's had to starve recently. Still, unless she has super strength, there's no way she could have even dragged me this far on her own. When I asks, she hesitates.

"Um…" she says.

I glare at her to show that I have little patience for her hesitation.

"There was… there was this spirit."

Chiharu pauses and I say slowly, "A spirit."

Chiharu nods, and I narrow my eyes. Considering that the last time I ran into a spirit I was attacked, this information does little to comfort me.

"It was here for a while, before you woke up. She seemed worried about you," Chiharu muttered.

"Where'd it go?"

Chiharu shrugs. "It left a few hours before you woke up."

It hasn't hurt us yet, so I don't worry about where it went or if it will come back. Instead I stand back up again and Chiharu seems to flinch, but I ignore her.

"Where's my stuff?" I ask

"Over by a big rock next to the stream a little ways down," Chiharu says. "While you do that, I'll get some food ready."

I don't ask what food she has. At this point, I could probably use anything.

My things are laying on a big rock out in the sun just like Chiharu promised, but before I put my shirt and jacket back on I wash up in the stream. It's surprising cool considering it's so hot outside and it instantly soothes the sting in my side. I take the time to look at the injury for the first time.

There are three long cuts across the left side of my abdomen and from the looks of it, they had been pretty deep. Between Chiharu's stitches and the salve Clow sent to stop the bleeding, they've heal a lot faster than they would have on their own if something like this had happened back home. Still, I make a point to be careful enough that I don't reopen the cuts again. Chiharu's stitches certainly help with that, and when I get back to her camp after I'm done, I ask her where she learned it.

She shrugs. "I picked it up during training. It was easy because it reminding me of threading cloth like we do back in District Eight."

"Textile. Right?" I ask.

She nods and I say nothing more, my curiosity satisfied. Chiharu seems to understand that I'm not much of a talker and doesn't bother trying to strike up conversation with me. She only talks to get my attention when she asks which fruit I want. I've never seen either before, so I grab the large round purple one with some kind of fuzzy skin on it.

"Where did you get this from?" I ask.

"There are these large trees spread out periodically through the meadow," she explains.

"How do you know it was safe?"

"Because the animals were eating the fruits from them and I figured if they were poisoned they wouldn't be," Chiharu says as though the answer was obvious.

I nod and take a bite of the fruit. It's sweet and tart, and sticky juice run from out of it after I've bitten into it.

"You have to wait until night to get them. There are these big black birds that stay in them during the day and attack if you get too close. At night, they're in their nest resting and you can pick up the ones that have fallen to the ground."

"Do you remember where this tree is?" I ask.

Chiharu nods her head across the stream.

"We'll go back once we set off again," I say.

Chiharu looks surprised. "We?"

It dawns on me why she's surprised, but I'm confused why she would think so.

"Did you think I was going to kill you or something?"

"Honestly. Yes," she says.

There are two specific reasons I'm not going to. One reason is that if Chiharu hadn't stopped to help me, I'd probably be almost, if not already, dead by now. The second reason is that Sakura would never forgive me for killing Chiharu. Besides, it would be needless to kill her right now. There are more threatening tributes to get rid of and perhaps Chiharu can help with that. If I'm lucky—and part of me is almost, just almost, ashamed of thinking it—Chiharu will die in a scuffle with a stronger tribute, and I won't have to dirty my hands with the task of killing her in the end.

Still, it's baffling. She thought I was going to kill her. If that's what she thought, why would she risk her life to save mine? I don't dwell on it too long. It's a non-issue now. The important thing is that despite it all, she saved me and I owe her. So I may as well let her tag along with me.

After we eat the remaining fruit, we gather up everything and scatter the remains of the pallet she made for me out of pine and large flat leaves in the tall grass near us. Then I put my backpack and quiver on my back and am pleased to note that my shoulder doesn't hurt anymore, so it probably was just a sprain.

Chiharu leads us to a part of the stream where there are small rocks we can use as stepping stones so we can avoid getting wet. Once we've crossed, she leads me through some more tall grass that leads to another clearing where a large tree is.

It reminds me of an oak tree, but the wood is black and so are the leaves for that matter. It's also full of the same purple fuzzy fruit that Chiharu had earlier. I walk towards it, but Ciharu stops me.

"The birds," she says.

That's when I notice the black birds with large black eyes staring at us. They blend in with the leaves and the bark of the tree, so if Chiharu hadn't pointed them out, I wouldn't have seen them. They aren't as big as Chiharu made them out to be, probably as large as a duck. But there are a lot of them and many of them have turned a wary eye on us.

"What have you noticed about them?" I ask.

"They're intimidating, but easily frightened if they sense a threat. I saw them fly away when this bigger bird with claws and talons came."

I wince a little. Chiharu sounds like she was describing a harpy, and I am not eager to run into one of those again. But there doesn't look like there are any around.

I draw closer to the tree and ignore when Chiharu tries to stop me. Then, in one swift motion, I've grabbed an arrow, aimed it, and shot into the tree. There are a bunch of loud squawks and commotion in the tree as a bird with an arrow in it falls to the ground below the tree. Then I shoot another arrow and another bird falls. This time, all the birds fly away.

Chiharu comes to stand next to me looking amazed. "Where'd you learn to shoot an arrow?"

I shrug. That's not something she or the Capitol needs to know.

"Hurry up and get whatever fruit you can," I say as I notice the birds are circling carefully nearby.

Chiharu does so without hesitation while I pick up the two birds and clean my arrows before putting them back in the quiver. We put everything in my backpack, except for the birds which I attach onto my belt with some wire so that I can clean them later. Then Chiharu and I set off again, this time following the stream which she believes circles the arena because the Cornucopia and the lake are in a direction away from the stream.

Chiharu's quiet, but she's looking at me intently. At first, I ignore her, but after a while, it starts to bother me. I know she wants to ask me something, but she doesn't know how or maybe even if she should. I help her decide.

"What?" I ask.

She turns her gaze away from me, startled at having been caught, but she continues to shoot glances my way. It's really beginning to irritate me, and I'm about to ask Chiharu what she wants one more time when she finally blurts out her question.

"How did you and Sakura get separated?"

Somehow, I know that's not what she wanted to ask me.

"We got attack by an earth spirit. By the time it was subdued, the careers came. They didn't see her, so I led them away," I reply.

I guess the fact that I don't hesitate to tell her what happens seems to give her courage because her next question is bolder.

"Did you mean what you said?" she asks and then adds, "At the interviews."

I'm very aware that because of this question, Chiharu and I are more than likely on the television screen in every home in Magea. I'll have to be careful about how I answer this. It all depends on what Chiharu means of course.

"I said a lot at the interviews," I say as I keep walking. "You're going to have to be specific."

Chiharu rolls her eyes and says with a grin, "You _know _what I'm talking about."

I press my lips together tightly and say, "Well I didn't lie during the interviews, if that's what you mean."

"So what everyone is saying is true then?" Chiharu asks.

"What is everyone saying?" I ask carefully.

"That you and Sakura are star crossed lovers."

I stop walking at that and open and close my mouth a few times. Is _that _what people really think? Clow and Sonomi hadn't really been specific when they said Sakura and I were all anyone could talk about. I wish they had though. Then I'd been more prepared for this question.

"She's not… I mean we're not… It's…" I decide not to answer at all considering I probably look like a fish with the way I keep opening my mouth and then closing it when I decide my train of thought isn't the right thing to say. It's probably a good idea anyway. The Capitol probably thinks that my hesitancy to say anything reveals my "true feelings" on the matter. I resist the urge to roll my eyes at the thought.

"You care about her. A lot."

"You think?"

"It shows," Chiharu says.

"How so?"

"She's the only one you ever smile at," Chiharu says.

I furrow my eyebrows at this. "Do I?"

"Yeah. You smiled at her a lot during training."

"I smiled during the interviews."

"Yeah, but only because you were thinking about her," Chiharu says.

"I was just trying to get us sponsors," I say. "It wasn't real."

That's probably not the wisest thing to say, but at this point, the Capitol audience will probably assume I'm just in denial, or haven't yet realized the depth of my feelings. It will all build this suspense Clow told me about, the desire to want to know. I hope the Capitol isn't too disappointed when it doesn't amount to some grand love affair or something.

Chiharu shrugs at my revelation. "Looked real to me."

I don't reply to that, because it's the truth. It did look real. However, Chiharu's observations makes me wonder how many other people have noticed in a matter of one week what took me a decade to figure out. It also makes me wonder what it means. I've always had a strange affinity for Sakura, but the Magic Games have forced me to deal with that predicament hands on when for the most part, I've ignored it. To be honest, I felt the same connection with Kero—well not the _same_ connection. My connection with Sakura is very unique, but what I mean is that the connection, a sibling rivalry one was instant. It's also the same way I feel a strange hostile rivalry with Ruby. There's some unknown here, something that connects us all together and is the reason I feel like I've met them all long before these games.

"Now is not the time to talk about that," I say as I stop walking. "There's something else we need to talk about."

"What's that?"

"The careers," I say. "I want to see their camp."

Chiharu give me a dry looks before saying, "Weren't you just talking about not wanting to run into the careers?"

"I meant not on their terms," I say.

I've been thinking about it since Chiharu pointed out that while the careers are skilled fighters, they've always been given handouts, they don't know how to survive without food for a couple of days and stay functional. If we destroy their supply source, not only would it even out the playing field, but it would also mean that the careers can't run back to their camp if they get in trouble again. They'll have to survive off of what the arena can offer them just like the rest of us.

Now is the perfect time to strike. According to Chiharu, they're probably just getting back to their camp and if we assume they're going to take a day or two to rest, regroup, and come up with a plan to get rid of the rest of the tributes, that gives us time to come up with a plan to strike first. The careers are so arrogant they'll never see it coming.

"What about Sakura?" Chiharu asks when I tell her my plan.

Truthfully, Sakura's the only thing that makes me hesitate about going through with this. But I've reasoned with myself that she's been alright by herself for two days, so she can last another day on her own. Besides, I'd be an idiot not to capitalize from this opportunity and in the end it only makes keeping Sakura alive that much easier, even if I have to hold off finding her to do it.

* * *

**AN:**I meant to have this up Sunday, right after the review quota was met, but it was a long day and yesterday was just blah, so here it is. Hope you enjoyed.

At the risk of sounding like some of those review junkies I know who won't post a chapter unless they get enough reviews, just a note that reviews make me want to update faster and not just when I get around to it. So if you're reading this story and you enjoyed it (or even if it appalled you) please leave a review.


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